Customer Reviews

Earl Hines in New Orleans

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After the huge success of his Little Theatre and Village Vanguard concerts in 1964-65, Earl Hines's career was revitalized and the opportunities he had to record skyrocketed. (Those `64-65 events were literally career-saving; Earl seriously considered quitting music altogether at the time.) Throughout the `70s-80s it seems that everyone wanted to record Hines; Hank O'Neal of Chiaroscuro probably had more opportunities than most and this is one of Fatha's best outings for the label. Hines became a much more expansive player during his later years, taking full advantage of the LP's longer time allowances. He often makes each tune almost a miniature concerto, changing tempos and even styles during a typical 5-8 minute performance. Sometimes the elaborate codas he employs go on for a number of minutes themselves, almost as if he doesn't really want to end playing the tune at hand until he's milked it of every nuance he can think of. He is a marvelously talented and inventive player, and on such tracks here as I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS, I'VE GOT A RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES, and BLUE SKIES his playing is both exuberant and majestic. Hines was certainly one of jazz's premier piano players, and this CD is typical of his best efforts during his twilight years.

If you love solo jazz piano, you will dig this album. You'll also swear there are two or three guys playing the piano at once. The recording quality is excellent (recorded in the 1970s on state of the art equipment at the time), so this is no old-timey scratchy music. And boy does Hines swing. This is one of those albums you can listen to 100 times and still hear new licks, new phrases, catch new musical quotes. The man was a virtuoso. I only wish I had gotten to see him perform live--and I saw a lot of the greats (some now passed on) such as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Dexter Gordon, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Dave Brubeck, Bobby Hackett, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, etc. You simply cannot go wrong with this album. If you don't like it--you'd better check your pulse...