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Earl Hines Solo Recommendations


paul secor

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Isn't there a solo record on Halcyon, Marian McParland's label, or is that the stuff on Chairoscuro?

For wildness there's "Jive Sugar," Hines on the blues. Going to listen to "My Shining Hour" from the Masters of Jazz release on Storyville.

Hearing that (now, which is the reason for the edit) he does what Andrew Hill recently described as "concertizing" for the first half of the piece, then turns into Hines Waller at the mid-point and the improv goes out. His ability to relocate the tune from the edges he visits rhythmically and with such complex intertwined linearity....

And the Tchaikovsky ending, spelling out the melody with grandiose bass chords seperated by rests, My____ Shin_ing___ Hour. He winks at the middle section to close it out.

Edited by Lazaro Vega
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Great thread!

I've been looking to increase my Hines holdings, and this has been very informative. Especially as regards his Ellington interpretations. Over the years since they were first released I've seen these referred to over and over again as prime late-period Hines, yet there seems to be a luke-warm response to them here. On the other hand, I love the Riverside Monk interpretations of Ellington, which are often dismissed by critics (that might actually be my favorite piano trio ever: Monk, Pettiford, Clarke).

I guess I'll have to get everything he ever recorded and make up my own mind.

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I have several Earl Hines solo recordings in my collection, and love listening to them. He, Monk, and Cecil are probably my favorite solo pianists, and Earl Hines is definitely the most unpredictable - I might even use the term "free".

Agree, Hines is free! I first heard Hines on the radio back in the days when I was just starting getting interested in improvised music, and was thrilled by the abundance and unpredictability of his ideas. Anything could be played at any time - and everything would fit. Very fast mind. Of solo Hines, I have only "West Side Story" (Black Lion) - a Montreux festival recoding from '74 - great exuberant music (and good sound quality - with audience hum-along during "Solitude").

I would actually add another free pianist, who just as Hines (and Cecil) displayed his telents best in solo setting - Jaki Byard (and you can definitely hear Hines in his playing).

And probably Cooper-Moore as well.

Edit: just checked to confirm - Cecil Taylor's "Silent Tongues" was recorded at Montreux festival on the same day as Earl Hines' set. I assume Hines heard Cecil play (as well as visa versa). Wonder what they thought of each other.

Edited by Д.Д.
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  • 1 month later...

Yes, if you're going to get into Hines as a soloist per se and not just the great solo music he did late in his career, there are the two 1939 Blue Notes, too, which are essential to the story.

Just found this used: Reminiscing at Blue Note (Hines, Pete Johnson, James P. Johnson)

d85318v40bm.jpg

Includes "The Father's Getaway" and "Reminiscing at Blue Note", both from 1939. :excited:

Are these the only two solo tracks Hines recorded for Blue Note? Is there any more solo Hines stuff available from this time period on other labels?

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 years later...

I've just come into a 5-LP box, "The Father of Modern Jazz Piano" on the M.F. Productions label. If there was a booklet with the package originally, it's disappeared from my set. Anybody got more info on these records and whether they came out in other forms on other labels? Three of the LPs are solo and are just mind-blowingly great. All recorded in Chicago, Sept-Oct. 1977; other material from Dec. 1977 (New York) with Budd Johnson, Bill Pemberton and Oliver Jackson.

A lot of the tracks are extended -- 7-10 minute versions of "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else," "Just Friends," "East of the Sun," "Can't We Talk it Over," "Blues in Thirds." These are really wild rides. I've only recently started listening to these late solo recordings and they are rapidly becoming some of my favorite music. A lot of the attraction for me is that I think Hines was really a true improviser in the sense of playing things in performance that he literally had never played before -- like Sonny Rollins. In a sense, most players are basically editors, more or less re-arranging things they’ve practiced, with brief flashes of new ideas emerging from scratch. No shame in this, of course, because it's certainly a critical part of an improviser’s art, but it's not the same thing as the more elevated plane of literally inventing new stuff on the spot. I've always felt that Sonny was the ideal true improviser because when he’s on, he’s actually playing a ridiculously high percentage of ideas he’s never played before. I think late Hines is in that category and it's the fundamental source of why there's so much electricity in his playing and one of the reasons why he always sounds so damn modern.

There are other reasons too that have to do with the way he addresses the piano, especially the active left hand, the way he spreads the rhythm out between the two hands, the bursts of spontaneous counterpoint and single notes and jabbing chords (bebop!) while always letting his right hand carry the linear invention. The harmonic sense is very sophisticated and he's always swinging! While he'll play his left hand on all four beats at times and hook into a modified stride but not for long and never in a way that weighs down the music. In a certain sense the assimilation of so much of the jazz piano history reminds me of Hank Jones, another player who stands outside of chronological time and style.

Side note: Bill Charlap's Trio was in town for four nights this week and the topic of Hines' late solo playing came up briefly in a conversation I had with him last night. He said these performances always reminded him of Erroll Garner's introductions -- except that with Hines, the entire performances had that discursive, unpredictable quality.

Anyway, any info on this M.F. Productions box would be appreciated.

Edited by Mark Stryker
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Mark:

My copy of the Hines box on MF has some notes with it. The notes start with a two page essay about Hines from Stanley Dance. Those are followed by notes from Dance on the individual records. Here's some discographical information (although it appears you may already have some of this):

Record One: Earl Hines (p), Budd Johnson (ts), Bill Pemberton (b), Oliver Jackson (d). New York, Dec. 29, 1977.

Record Two: Earl Hines (p). Chicago. Sept. 25, 1977.

Record Three: Earl Hines (p). Chicago. Sept. 25 and Oct. 17, 1977.

Record Four: Earl Hines (p). Chicago. Sept. 9 and Oct. 17, 1977.

Record Five: Earl Hines (p), Budd Johnson (ts), Bill Pemberton (b), Oliver Jackson (d). New York, Dec. 30, 1977.

I'm not aware of this music having been issued elsewhere.

I have other box sets on the same label with material from Louis Armtrong and Duke Ellington.

I've just come into a 5-LP box, "The Father of Modern Jazz Piano" on the M.F. Productions label. If there was a booklet with the package originally, it's disappeared from my set. Anybody got more info on these records and whether they came out in other forms on other labels? Three of the LPs are solo and are just mind-blowingly great. All recorded in Chicago, Sept-Oct. 1977; other material from Dec. 1977 (New York) with Budd Johnson, Bill Pemberton and Oliver Jackson.

A lot of the tracks are extended -- 7-10 minute versions of "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else," "Just Friends," "East of the Sun," "Can't We Talk it Over," "Blues in Thirds." These are really wild rides. I've only recently started listening to these late solo recordings and they are rapidly becoming some of my favorite music. A lot of the attraction for me is that I think Hines was really a true improviser in the sense of playing things in performance that he literally had never played before -- like Sonny Rollins. In a sense, most players are basically editors, more or less re-arranging things they’ve practiced, with brief flashes of new ideas emerging from scratch. No shame in this, of course, because it's certainly a critical part of an improviser’s art, but it's not the same thing as the more elevated plane of literally inventing new stuff on the spot. I've always felt that Sonny was the ideal true improviser because when he’s on, he’s actually playing a ridiculously high percentage of ideas he’s never played before. I think late Hines is in that category and it's the fundamental source of why there's so much electricity in his playing and one of the reasons why he always sounds so damn modern.

There are other reasons too that have to do with the way he addresses the piano, especially the active left hand, the way he spreads the rhythm out between the two hands, the bursts of spontaneous counterpoint and single notes and jabbing chords (bebop!) while always letting his right hand carry the linear invention. The harmonic sense is very sophisticated and he's always swinging! While he'll play his left hand on all four beats at times and hook into a modified stride but not for long and never in a way that weighs down the music. In a certain sense the assimilation of so much of the jazz piano history reminds me of Hank Jones, another player who stands outside of chronological time and style.

Side note: Bill Charlap's Trio was in town for four nights this week and the topic of Hines' late solo playing came up briefly in a conversation I had with him last night. He said these performances always reminded him of Erroll Garner's introductions -- except that with Hines, the entire performances had that discursive, unpredictable quality.

Anyway, any info on this M.F. Productions box would be appreciated.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 4 years later...

I've been binging on Earl Hines lately, so I thought I'd revive this old thread.  

Lately, I've been doing a bit of digging, trying to identify all of Hines' solo piano recordings after his '64 comeback.  Here's what I've found, so far:

  • Spontaneous Explorations (Contact, 1964); reissued as part of The Mighty Fatha (Flying Dutchman)
  • Blues in Thirds (Black Lion, 1965)
  • '65 Piano Solo (Black & Blue, 1965)
  • Dinah (RCA, 1966)
  • Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues (Prestige, 1969)
  • At Home (Delmark, 1969)
  • The Quintessential Recording Session (Chiaroscuro, 1970)
  • My Tribute to Louis (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Hines Does Hoagy (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Hines Comes in Handy (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Plays Duke Ellington, Vols. 1-4 (Master Jazz, 1971-75); reissued by New World
  • Tour de Force (Black Lion, 1972) 
  • Tour de Force Encore (Black Lion, 1972)
  • Hines Plays Hines (Swaggie, 1972)
  • Waltzing Matilda (Swaggie, 1972)
  • Plays George Gershwin (Carosello, 1973); (re)issued in the U.S. by Classic Jazz
  • Quintessential Continued (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Quintessential ‘74 (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Live at The New School (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Live at The New School, Volume Two (Chiaroscuro, 1974)
  • Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Ellis Larkins, Marian McPartland – Concert in Argentina (Halcyon, 1974); reissued on Jazz Alliance [CD is abridged]
  • Live in Orange (Black and Blue, 1974)
  • West Side Story (Black Lion, 1974)  
  • One for My Baby (Black Lion, 1974)
  • Masters of Jazz, Vol. 2 (Storyville, 1974)
  • Piano Portraits of Australia (Swaggie, 1974)
  • Plays Cole Porter (Swaggie, 1974); reissued on New World
  • Live at Saralee’s (Fairmount, 1974)
  • Solo Walk in Tokyo (Denon/Biograph, 1977)
  • In New Orleans (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
  • The Father of Modern Jazz Piano [3 of 5 LPs in set are solo piano] (M.F. Distribution, 1977); LPs issued on Black Lion in Europe

Am I missing anything?

Regarding the music: I've heard many of these, but nowhere near all of them.  Among those that I've heard, there isn't one that I wouldn't recommend.  They are uniformly excellent -- and, of course, some are even better than excellent.

Regarding the earlier discussions about Earl Hines Plays Ellington: I think I can hear what Chuck's talking about when it comes to these pieces. Hines seems to bring a slightly different attitude to Ellington's compositions.  While Hines doesn't exactly "hold back" with Ellington, he does seem less exuberant, more sober. Not that it doesn't work. It does. These recordings are grand and wonderful -- even if, on some level, they aren't necessarily representative of Hines at his most unbuttoned.

 

EDIT:
Thought I'd add one of my favorite photos of "Fatha." :) 

PAR402221.jpg

Edited by HutchFan
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4 hours ago, alankin said:

I also have:

  • Jazz Classics (Aurophon, 1977)
  • Honor Thy Fatha (Drive Archive, 1978); originally issued as "Earl 'Fatha' Hines Plays Hits He Missed"

alankin - I don't think either of these are solo piano releases.  If I'm not mistaken, they both feature rhythm sections. ;) 

 

 

 

On 1/25/2013 at 10:41 AM, king ubu said:

Got the Festival 2LP set of Hines playing Gershwin today ... what's the story with the differently coloured covers?

EARLHINESPLAYSGERSHWIN.jpg

ubu,

I know you asked this question more than four years ago, but (if you're still wondering) -- as far as I can tell -- the colors only indicate the label & location where the music was released.  Orange = Disques Festival, France.  Blue = Classic Jazz, U.S.  Yellow = Carosello, Italy.   Per discogs, the music is exactly the same.

Edited by HutchFan
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2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

alankin - I don't think either of these are solo piano releases.  If I'm not mistaken, they both feature rhythm sections. ;) 

 

 

 

ubu,

I know you asked this question more than four years ago, but (if you're still wondering) -- as far as I can tell -- the colors only indicate the label & location where the music was released.  Orange = Disques Festival, France.  Blue = Classic Jazz, U.S.  Yellow = Carosello, Italy.   Per discogs, the music is exactly the same.

The blue is identical to my Musidisc (France) cd from 1993.

Edited by Chuck Nessa
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2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

ubu,

I know you asked this question more than four years ago, but (if you're still wondering) -- as far as I can tell -- the colors only indicate the label & location where the music was released.  Orange = Disques Festival, France.  Blue = Classic Jazz, U.S.  Yellow = Carosello, Italy.   Per discogs, the music is exactly the same.

Ouch, there goes ... not even sure where that LP currently is!

Thanks for the explanation tough, I never followed up and figured out myself :) 

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On 25.4.2017 at 8:42 PM, HutchFan said:

I've been binging on Earl Hines lately, so I thought I'd revive this old thread.  

Lately, I've been doing a bit of digging, trying to identify all of Hines' solo piano recordings after his '64 comeback.  Here's what I've found, so far:

  • Blues in Thirds (Black Lion, 1965)
  • '65 Piano Solo (Black & Blue, 1965)
  • At Home (Delmark, 1969)
  • The Quintessential Recording Session (Chiaroscuro, 1970)
  • My Tribute to Louis (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Hines Does Hoagy (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Hines Comes in Handy (Audiophile, 1971); reissued as Four Jazz Giants by Solo Art
  • Plays Duke Ellington, Vols. 1-4 (Master Jazz, 1971-75); reissued by New World
  • Tour de Force (Black Lion, 1972) 
  • Tour de Force Encore (Black Lion, 1972)
  • Hines Plays Hines (Swaggie, 1972)
  • Waltzing Matilda (Swaggie, 1972)
  • Plays George Gershwin (Carosello, 1973); (re)issued in the U.S. by Classic Jazz
  • Quintessential Continued (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Quintessential ‘74 (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Live at The New School (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
  • Live at The New School, Volume Two (Chiaroscuro, 1974)
  • Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Ellis Larkins, Marian McPartland – Concert in Argentina (Halcyon, 1974); reissued on Jazz Alliance [CD is abridged]
  • Live in Orange (Black and Blue, 1974)
  • West Side Story (Black Lion, 1974)  
  • One for My Baby (Black Lion, 1974)
  • Master of Jazz, Vol. 2 (Storyville, 1974)
  • Piano Portraits of Australia (Swaggie, 1974)
  • Plays Cole Porter (Swaggie, 1974); reissued on New World
  • Live at Saralee’s (Fairmount, 1974)
  • Solo Walk in Tokyo (Denon/Biograph, 1977)
  • In New Orleans (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
  • The Father of Modern Jazz Piano [3 of 5 LPs in set are solo piano] (M.F. Distribution, 1977); LPs issued on Black Lion in Europe

Am I missing anything?

Regarding the music: I've heard many of these, but nowhere near all of them.  Among those that I've heard, there isn't one that I wouldn't recommend.  They are uniformly excellent -- and, of course, some are even better than excellent.

 

I don't have many post-comeback Earl Hines LPs but among the few I have is this solo piano LP:

Dinah (RCA), rec. 29/04/1966

Can't see that one on your list.

What always baffled me about late (post-mid-60s) Earl Hines is how his new-found hairdo all of a sudden made it hard to believe this was 25-30 years after his big band heyday. ;)

I wonder if he ever cared to cover T-Bone Walker's "Your Wig is Gone" ? :lol:

 

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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8 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I don't have many post-comeback Earl Hines LPs but among the few I have is this solo piano LP:

Dinah (RCA), rec. 29/04/1966

Can't see that one on your list.

Thanks BBS! :tup 

If Hines didn't want to cover T-Bone, he could always look to Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig" as an alternative. ;) 

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On 4/27/2017 at 4:13 PM, Late said:

Is there a recommendable single disc of Hines' earlier piano solo work? I'm listening to the Hines Hep CD right now. Brilliant.

Hines' 1928 solo piano recordings for the QRS company are special.  I know they were reissued on a Milestone LP in the early-70s called A Monday Date: 1928.  (I don't know about digital reissues of this music. Sorry.)

R-4317549-1364340194-7781.jpeg.jpg 

One fun aspect of hearing these particular QRS recordings:  Hines re-visited these compositions on the Chiaroscuro LP The Quintessential Recording Session (1970).  So you can hear how Hines' approach to the music evolved between '28 and '70.

 

 

 

Here's another Hines solo-piano LP:

R-4456048-1365358603-2001.jpeg.jpg

Spontaneous Explorations (Contact, 1964)
This was also reissued in the Flying Dutchman 2-LP set The Mighty Fatha.

 

Edited by HutchFan
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