Price $64.99
Earl Hines is often named the “Father of Modern Jazz Piano” and not without good reason. He was a piano pioneer, not only in excelling and exercising his mastery of harmony and rhythm in solos, but in establishing the piano as an important member of any jazz ensemble. The trumpet-style phrasing Hines formed a close creative unit with Louis Armstrong all the while being a band leader and extravagant reformer: Never afraid to go beyond known borders and challenge the listener’s ear.
The 7 CD plus one DVD box set features solo sessions from Hines’ early days in 1928 and up to 1974 in New York and Chicago, 1948 radio broadcasts from Blue Note in Chicago with Louis Armstrong and his All Stars, a series of 1954 through 1955 live recordings from the infamous Club Hangover in San Francisco, 1954 collaborations with the Muggsy Spanier All Stars, numerous 1959 recordings with the Earl Hines Quartet from London House in Chicago and on the DVD, a 1970 take of Earl Hines solo on piano and vocal.
In the detailed liner notes, Dan Morgenstern writes: “Hines endures, and this collection is a fine representation of his art and craft”.
CD1: Earl Hines solo piano
You can listen to a small part of all the songs from CD1 in the right side of this page.
CD2: Earl Hines Solo Piano + Louis Armstrong and his All Stars
CD3: Earl Hines/ Muggsy Spanier All Stars
CD 4: Earl Hines Esquire All Stars featruing Dicky Wells
CD5: Earl Hines' Dixieland All Stars
CD6: Earl Hines Quartet
CD7: Earl Hines Quartet
DVD: Earl Hines piano solo & vocal
"Few other than Earl Hines could give the piano orchestral dimensions with a wickerwork of complex melodic strings, weaving themselves in an out of one another, while still anchoring wild soloist excursions in solidly swinging rhythms. Alone at the piano is where his virtuosity shines the brightest."
- Politiken, "A Homage to Hines". April 14, 2016
"These solo-takes from 1928 and onward prove that Hines was a pioneer in improvisaiton... The box is a beautiful Earl Hines-documentation and I love these original radio broadcasts where every little detail is included"
- Jens Jørn Gjedstd, Jazz Special 150 (2016)
If you do not have all of this material otherwise, do yourself a favor and grab this set of recordings by one very important jazz musician. Highly recommended and if were awarding stars, several dozen would not be out of line.
Herb Young, IAJRC
"We can but rejoice that we have this new volume dedicated entirely to one of the greatest creators in the history of jazz... I would like to stress that with Earl Hines, nothing is anodyne and you will always find something interesting and undiscovered and surprising to admire in him... If you don't have any of the music that you find in this collection, you will definitely not lose by acquiring this album!"
Bulletin du HCF, 654, October 2016