THINKING ABOUT JAZZ - October 25, 2025 - 1pm - Earl "Fatha"

Earl Kenneth Hines was born on December 28, 1903 in Duquesne, PA to a musical family; his mother was a church organist and his father, Joseph Hines, was a cornetist and leader of the Eureka Brass Band in Pittsburgh. Early on, Hines intended to follow his father in playing cornet but the blowing hurt him behind the ears so he moved to piano. He was playing organ in his Baptist church by age 11, gifted with a good ear and good memory; he could play songs after hearing them only once. At age 17, he left home to play piano with Lois Deppe and His Symphonian Serenaders at another Pittsburgh Club. Deppe sang classical and popular songs and would take Hines to New York as his accompanist for concert events. In 1921, Hines and Deppe became the first African Americans to perform on radio. In 1925, he moved to Chicago and soon joined Carroll Dickerson’s band with whom he toured on the Pantages Theatre Circuit to LA and back. He met Louis Armstrong there who marveled at his “trumpet-style” piano playing. Richard Cook wrote of him, Hines's most dramatic departure from what other pianists were then playing was his approach to the underlying pulse: he would charge against the metre of the piece being played, accent off-beats, introduce sudden stops and brief silences. In other hands this might sound clumsy or all over the place but Hines could keep his bearings with uncanny resilience. Hines and Armstrong became close friends and worked together a great deal especially with the “Hot Five.” In 1928, Hines and his Orchestra opened at Chicago’s Grand Terrace Café (controlled by Al Capone) and stayed for 12 years. From this venue they began to broadcast on the radio, soon becoming the most widely heard jazz band in the nation. In 1931, Hines took his big band on tour through the South, the first “all Negro” band to do so. When the Grand Terrace closed suddenly in 1942, he took his band on tour for the next 8 years. Around then, he gave Charlie Parker his big break and helped launch his career. Other beboppers showed up around then and Hines was known for fostering this genre. But Dizzy Gillespie claimed bop was always part of Hines’ style. In 1964, he was “rediscovered” and won wide acclaim as the best jazz pianist in the world. He recorded profusely for the next 20 years; acclaimed for producing great work with only 1 take. He toured Europe, Asia, Australia, Japan and the USSR; in 1966 he sold out the Kyiv Sports Palace with 10,000 seats. He said of his music, "The way I like to play is that ... I'm an explorer, if I might use that expression, I'm looking for something all the time ... almost like I'm trying to talk.” He died on 4/22/1983 in Oakland, a few days after his final performance. Join us for this very special presentation.