Earl Hines
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Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl “Fatha” Hines, (28 December 1903 – 22 April 1983) was a jazz musician, often referred to as “the first modern jazz pianist”.
In 1928 (on his 25th birthday) Hines began leading his own big band. For over 10 years his was “The Band” in Al Capone’s Grand Terrace Cafe — Hines was Capone’s “Mr Piano Man”. Hines recorded for Victor in 1929, then after a gap for Brunswick from 1932-1934, Decca from 1934-1935, then after another gap, Vocalion from 1937-1938 and Bluebird from 1939-1942 (nearly all among the best Black Jazz of the era). From the Grand Terrace, The Earl Hines Orchestra (or “Organization” as he more happily referred to it) broadcast on “open mikes”, sometimes five nights a week and over many years, coast to coast across America — Chicago being well placed to deal with the U.S. live-broadcasting time-zone problem. Hines’s band became the most broadcast band in America. Sometimes Nat “King” Cole was Hines’s relief pianist (though Cliff Smalls was his favorite) and it was here with Hines that Charlie Parker got his first professional job…until he was fired for his time-keeping — by which Hines meant Parker’s inability to show up on time despite Parker resorting to sleeping under the Grand Terrace stage in his attempts to do so. Hines led his big band until 1947, taking time out to front the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1944 while Duke was ill…but the big-band era was over. (Thirty years later, Hines’s 20 solo “transformative versions” of his “Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington” recorded in the 1970s were described by Ben Ratliff in the “New York Times” as “as good an example of the jazz process as anything out there”.)
In 1928 (on his 25th birthday) Hines began leading his own big band. For over 10 years his was “The Band” in Al Capone’s Grand Terrace Cafe — Hines was Capone’s “Mr Piano Man”. Hines recorded for Victor in 1929, then after a gap for Brunswick from 1932-1934, Decca from 1934-1935, then after another gap, Vocalion from 1937-1938 and Bluebird from 1939-1942 (nearly all among the best Black Jazz of the era). From the Grand Terrace, The Earl Hines Orchestra (or “Organization” as he more happily referred to it) broadcast on “open mikes”, sometimes five nights a week and over many years, coast to coast across America — Chicago being well placed to deal with the U.S. live-broadcasting time-zone problem. Hines’s band became the most broadcast band in America. Sometimes Nat “King” Cole was Hines’s relief pianist (though Cliff Smalls was his favorite) and it was here with Hines that Charlie Parker got his first professional job…until he was fired for his time-keeping — by which Hines meant Parker’s inability to show up on time despite Parker resorting to sleeping under the Grand Terrace stage in his attempts to do so. Hines led his big band until 1947, taking time out to front the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1944 while Duke was ill…but the big-band era was over. (Thirty years later, Hines’s 20 solo “transformative versions” of his “Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington” recorded in the 1970s were described by Ben Ratliff in the “New York Times” as “as good an example of the jazz process as anything out there”.)
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Earl Hines - The Memories (Remastered)
Earl Hines
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Earl Hines in Chicago (Live) [Remastered]
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Piano Man!
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An Evening With Earl Hines 1
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Shoutbox
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Druid66 wrote:
I want to hear more from him, he's one of the "designers" of modern jazz, from what I've read here.
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MJelsema wrote:
Just fine. Hines was great when doing Weather Bird w Armstrong in 1928, and here he is at the end of his career playing with the same gusto and inventiveness 50 years later.
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SYL2Oh wrote:
With Earl Hines on piano jazz definitely found the fullness of its expressive possibilities!
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honeybeeman wrote:
how is the best song mood indigo not on this list? or is that earl hines plays duke ellington?
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ctrl_shift_esc wrote:
great!
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ThomasHagen wrote:
Nice wig, too! :D
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RJ wrote:
nice grin on the artist pic ;)
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jessvs and ElenaCraciun added Earl Hines to their libraries. Thursday morning
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Related Journals
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Riffin' broadcast
by Uhwelluh |
4 Feb 2012
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Nightspots & Ballrooms broadcast
by Uhwelluh |
20 Jan 2012
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Fats Waller Songbook broadcast
by Uhwelluh |
25 Nov 2011
Groups (11)
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Jazz Piano
2,534 members
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Swing
953 members
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1920s and 1930s Jazz
659 members
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New People, Old Music
484 members
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The Mothership of Jazz
184 members
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