Milt Hinton
Encyclopedia
Milton John "Milt" Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000), "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American
jazz double bass
ist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".
, Mississippi
, where he resided until age eleven when he moved to Chicago
, Illinois
. He attended Wendell Phillips High School and Crane Junior College. While attending these schools, he learned first to play the violin, and later bass horn, tuba, cello and the double bass. As a young violinist out of school, he found gainful employment as a bassist. He later recounted in interviews, released in 1990 on Old Man Time, how this prompted him to switch to double bass.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he worked as a freelance musician in Chicago. During this time, he worked with famous jazz musicians such as Jabbo Smith
, Eddie South
, and Art Tatum
. In 1936, he joined a band led by Cab Calloway
. Members of this band included Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie
, Illinois Jacquet, Jonah Jones, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, and Danny Barker.
Hinton possessed a formidable technique and was equally adept at bowing, pizzicato, and "slapping," a technique for which he became famous while playing with the big band of Cab Calloway from 1936 to 1951. Unusually for a double bass player, Hinton was frequently given the spotlight by Calloway, taking virtuose bass solos in tunes like "Pluckin' the Bass."
Hinton played a rare Gofriller Double Bass during his latter career. The bass was in pieces in a cellar in Italy and a musical agent arranged the purchase from the family for Hinton. Hinton in his autobiography "Bass Line" described the tone as magnificent and said it was one of the reasons for his long success in the New York recording studios in the 1950s, and 1960s.
He later became a television staff musician, working regularly on shows by Jackie Gleason
and later Dick Cavett
. His work can be heard on the Branford Marsalis
album Trio Jeepy.
Hinton twice received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts
for his work as a jazz educator: a music fellowship in 1977 and an NEA Jazz Master award in 1993.
According to a search of The Jazz Discography, Hinton is the most-recorded jazz musician of all time, having appeared on 1,174 recording sessions.
Also a fine photographer, Hinton documented many of the great jazz musicians via photographs he took over the course of his career. Hinton was one of the best friends of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong
.
Hinton died in Queens
, New York City
, New York
at age 90.
With Charles Mingus
With Ike Quebec
With Ralph Sutton
and Ruby Braff
With Clark Terry
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
ist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".
Biography
Hinton was born in VicksburgVicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, where he resided until age eleven when he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He attended Wendell Phillips High School and Crane Junior College. While attending these schools, he learned first to play the violin, and later bass horn, tuba, cello and the double bass. As a young violinist out of school, he found gainful employment as a bassist. He later recounted in interviews, released in 1990 on Old Man Time, how this prompted him to switch to double bass.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he worked as a freelance musician in Chicago. During this time, he worked with famous jazz musicians such as Jabbo Smith
Jabbo Smith
Jabbo Smith, born as Cladys Smith was a United States jazz musician, known for his hot virtuoso playing on the trumpet....
, Eddie South
Eddie South
Eddie South was an American jazz violinist.-Biography:South was a classical violin prodigy who switched to jazz because of limited opportunities for African-American musicians, and started his career playing in vaudeville and jazz orchestras with Freddie Keppard, Jimmy Wade, Charles Elgar, and...
, and Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
. In 1936, he joined a band led by Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
. Members of this band included Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Illinois Jacquet, Jonah Jones, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, and Danny Barker.
Hinton possessed a formidable technique and was equally adept at bowing, pizzicato, and "slapping," a technique for which he became famous while playing with the big band of Cab Calloway from 1936 to 1951. Unusually for a double bass player, Hinton was frequently given the spotlight by Calloway, taking virtuose bass solos in tunes like "Pluckin' the Bass."
Hinton played a rare Gofriller Double Bass during his latter career. The bass was in pieces in a cellar in Italy and a musical agent arranged the purchase from the family for Hinton. Hinton in his autobiography "Bass Line" described the tone as magnificent and said it was one of the reasons for his long success in the New York recording studios in the 1950s, and 1960s.
He later became a television staff musician, working regularly on shows by Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
and later Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
. His work can be heard on the Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...
album Trio Jeepy.
Hinton twice received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
for his work as a jazz educator: a music fellowship in 1977 and an NEA Jazz Master award in 1993.
According to a search of The Jazz Discography, Hinton is the most-recorded jazz musician of all time, having appeared on 1,174 recording sessions.
Also a fine photographer, Hinton documented many of the great jazz musicians via photographs he took over the course of his career. Hinton was one of the best friends of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
.
Hinton died in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at age 90.
As leader
- 1955: Milt Hinton Bethlehem High Fidelity
- 1955: Basses Loaded
- 1955: Milt Hinton Quartet Bethlehem High Fidelity
- 1956 : The Rhythm Section Epic
- 1975: Here Swings the Judge Progressive
- 1977: The Trio (Chiaroscuro RecordsChiaroscuro Records-Artists:*Nat Adderley*Howard Alden*George Barnes*Louie Bellson*Gene Bertoncini*Eubie Blake*Ruby Braff*John Bunch*Don Cherry*Buck Clayton*Eddie Condon*Johnny Costa*Kenny Davern*Wild Bill Davison*Lou Donaldson*Dorothy Donegan*John Eaton*Don Ewell...
) - 1984: Back to Bass-ics Progressive
- 1984: The Judge's Decision Exposure
- 1990: Old Man Time Chiaroscuro
- 1994: The Trio: 1994 Chiaroscuro
- 1994: Laughing at Life
As sideman
With Lionel HamptonLionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
- You Better Know It!!!You Better Know It!!!You Better Know It!!! is an album by American jazz vibraponist Lionel Hampton featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1965)
With Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
- Charles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in Concert is a live album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded at the Philharmonic hall of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1972 and released on the Columbia label...
(Columbia, 1972)
With Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec
Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...
- Heavy SoulHeavy Soul (Ike Quebec album)Heavy Soul is the debut album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec, recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Thick-toned tenor Ike Quebec is in excellent form.....
(Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, 1961) - It Might as Well Be SpringIt Might as Well Be Spring (album)It Might as Well Be Spring is an album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note 1961) - Easy LivingEasy Living (Ike Quebec album)Easy Living is an album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded in 1962 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1987. The album collects all the material recorded in Januaury 1962, five tracks from which were released in 1981 as Congo Lament....
(Blue Note, 1962)
With Ralph Sutton
Ralph Sutton
Ralph Earl Sutton was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller....
and Ruby Braff
Ruby Braff
Reuben "Ruby" Braff was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "The Ivy League Louis Armstrong."Braff was born in Boston...
- Remembered (Arbors RecordsArbors RecordsArbors Records is an independent American jazz record label based in Clearwater, Florida. It was founded by the family team of Mat and Rachel Domber in 1989, initially devoted to the recordings of their friend Rick Fay.-History:...
)
With Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
- The Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark Terry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Clark Terry featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964)