[78-L] EARL HINES.

[David Lewis]

Spats wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I couldn't disagree more. I saw him play live and he was one of the 
> most exciting pianists I've ever heard. 

==============
Julian wrote:

 

Once again, I'm talking about his piano playing, not his bands. I do 
like the Decca band sides quite a bit. I agree his playing was often 
inventive but, it seems to me, devoid of emotion. "

 
>>>

I don't doubt Earl Okin's memories and I have heard plenty of Hines myself, both in and out of bands. I treasure a copy of the 1940 Bluebird of "Child of a Disordered Brain" and also greatly enjoy his Storytone piano solos. However, I wonder if Julian is not onto something here -- most critical appraisals I've read of Hines are uniformly laudatory, but without a great deal of insight or global perspective on his career, and I'm wondering if a lot of that is based on the work with Armstrong and the famous 1928 recording of "57 Varieties."

 

Did Hines really live up to the promise of his work in 1928? Trumpet piano was certainly a major innovation; perhaps that one recorded solo was enough to transmit this stylistic device to everyone in the game? Could his showmanship and reputation be in play to some extent towards establishing his exalted place on the shelf? Was his contribution more technical and less towards expressive ends?        

Julian again:

During his "come-back" years, his playing seems terribly bland and 
formulaic--tying himself up in harmonic knots then extricating himself.

 

>>>

Hines recorded 15 albums in 1974 alone. I've heard "Quintessential '74" which consists of four very long, extended jams on tunes that he had written, not jam tunes but songs fashioned into the forms of standards. It was very dense overall and exciting in spots but I found myself getting restless with some of it. I had the impression that such long form statements weren't the result of years having done this sort of thing himself so much as Hines shifting his vessel from the stream he had been in to that traveled by Erroll Garner, Art Tatum or even McCoy Tyner.

Thoughts?

 


Uncle Dave Lewis uncledavelewis at hotmail.com


 		 	   		  
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