Customer Reviews

Earl Fatha Hines Orchestra the Jazz Collector Edition

5 star:		(1)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Earl Hines never gets the credit he deserves when people talk about the big band era. He had a crack band at the time but chose to stay in Chicago, rarely touring.One listen to these radio broadcasts and you'll soon realize his big band rocked as hard as Basie did! If you like this album be sure to track down his big band sides on the Bluebird label. You won't regret it! Hard swinging big band jazz at it's best. And the sound quality is good for a radio broadcast too.

Delta/Laserlight is justifiably infamous for collections of really awful rock remakes, however their antique jazz and European orchestra classical CDs have great merit. EARL HINES ORCHESTRA (#15 766) is one of their better sets.

'Fatha' Hines' piano studies began at age 9. In those days young Earl dreamed of being a concert pianist. Gigs with small combos in his late teens put him on the jazz path. By late 1928, he had his own jazz orchestra, the house group at Chicago's Grand Terrace Cafe. After years of being the most-often heard band on the radio, Earl's contingent took to the road when the Grand Terrace suddenly closed in 1940. They toured coast-to-coast.

Late night Hines jam sessions during WWII supposedly inspired the bop revolution. None of Earl's work from these years officially made it to disc as there was a recording ban in effect, but radio remote transcriptions give an idea of the sort of music his men were laying down. This CD contains broadcasts of the post-WWII Hines outfit.

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TRACK NOTES--
All are dubs of transcription discs of varying quality. Some are clean, others have minor crackle. None distort or show groove damage. The master tape used for this CD may have been played on a machine not perfectly aligned to the tape. On some tracks a slight garbling can be heard, especially on higher frequencies, applause, etc. It is this engineering flaw that gives the album at best a 3 star of 5 rating.

PROGRAM--

[2:56] Stompin' at the Savoy
[2:57] Straight Life
[3:28] The Honeydripper
[2:30] Fatha's Idea
[2:45] Blue Keys
[3:00] Throwing the Switch
[2:38] I Know That You Know
[2:43] Scoops Kelly Melley
[2:39] Keep on Jumping
[2:44] Boogie Woogie on the St. Louis Blues
[3:00] Rockin' the Blues
[2:18] Limehouse Blues

TOTAL TIME: 33:38