Earl "Fatha" Hines - July 29 1939
Bluenote.com
Once called “the first modern jazz pianist,” Earl Hines differed from the stride pianists of the 1920s by breaking up the stride rhythms with unusual accents from his left hand. While his right hand often played octaves so as to ring clearly over ensembles, Hines had the trickiest left hand in the business, often suspending time recklessly but without ever losing the beat
Dan Morgenstern - Reminiscing At Blue Note
Earl Hines (1903-1983), dubbed "Fatha" and certainly the progenitor of modern jazz piano. By 1939, when [Alfred] Lion managed to entice him to do this date, he had been leader of his own big band for a decade and hadn't waxed a solo performance since 1932. He'd been absent from the studios with his band for 16 months when, two weeks earlier, he did his first session for Victor's Bluebird label; that's probably how Lion got away with recording him - the Bluebirds hadn't yet hit the street.
Stanley Dance - Pete Johnson / Earl Hines / Teddy Bunn Sessions
In his later years, Earl Hines could not remember how he came to record two titles for Blue Note...but he thought maybe he kept a promise to Alfred Lion and sneaked in under the wire before an exclusive contract [with Bluebird] was signed. In any event, it was a scoop for the independent label. All Lion could remember about the session when Michael Cuscuna asked him was that Hines gave him the title for the first number....
DM
Legend has it that the title of the first piece was given to Hines as he raced down the studio stairs to make a train to Chicago.
Or....
Michael Cuscuna – Blue Note Photos – Francis Wolf
On the 29th of July 1939, Blue Note scored a bit of a coup by convincing Earl £Fath” Hines, already a legend in jazz, to cut two marvelous improvised piano solos. Hines literally took the money and ran. Alfred told me: “I followed him down the street to get titles for the pieces from him. He was so fast that I just watched him put on his jacket and dash down the sidewalk. So I called one of the pieces The Father’s Getaway.”
Richard Cook - Blue Note Records: The Biography – Secker and Warburg 2001
'The Father's Getaway" and "Reminiscing at Blue Note" are full of the authentic Hines razzle-dazzle, skipping over rhythmic and harmonic conventions with insouciant abandon, the kind of solo he would live by in later years but which was rarely exposed, at length, in his prime. Lion let both masters run over four minutes and secured a priceless result.
SD
"The Father's Getaway" was an apt title for a performance played in the same stream-of-consciousness style that made his 57 Varieties world famous.
This kind of piano playing is, of course, how the great masters of yesterday liked to entertain and challenge one another. There is more of it on the equally well-titled Reminiscing At Blue Note, where familiar themes...surface briefly.
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| Gramophone Shop Supplement August 1939 |
The American Record Guide – August 1939 Volume 5 Issue 4 Blue Note announces a new disc to be available about August 1st. It is a piano solo record by [Earl “Father” Hines, the first solo recording made of him in years. This disc, which will be release No. 5, will be a twelve-incher containing The Father's Getaway and Reminiscing at Blue Note. It will be reviewed in this column as soon as it is received.
The American Record Guide – September 1939 Volume 5 Issue 5
The Father’s Getaway / Reminiscing at Blue Note – piano improvisations by Earl "Father” Hines. Blue Note No. 5, 12-inch, price $1.50
The Getaway is a fast number in typical Hines tempo. phrasing. and technique. His hand has lost none of its old-time skill. You may ask: why should it. he has been playing the same all these years? True. but other pianists have since appeared who had new and interesting things to say. They took some of the limelight away from him and for many years he has played in the dark. But when listening to this record one realizes that the Father is still the Father. There is nothing corny about his playing in spite the years. And in his playing can be found the germ of many other pianists' ideas and technique.
Reminiscing is a trifle slower in tempo, more whimsical, but essentially the same as the reverse: the familiar phrasing. touch, and swing is there. This is improvisation at its best. It has a bounce that is infectious — and it is achieved without heel-pounding or bass exaggerations.
Ten years ago this disc would have been sensation. It is no less a sensation today because it still speaks the same fundamental truths. What was good jazz then is still good jazz now.
Down Beat September 1939 Volume 6 Issue 9 Hines presents his first recorded solos since he made those on Vocalion and Q. R. S. several years back. Nor does he lend credence to the statement some have made about his “lost” skill, for on these sides we forget the cigar-smoking, arrogant Earl that led a band so cockily in Chicago last spring. Evidently Earl can play with his old fire, under proper conditions. Even so, two 12-inch sides are adequate. Hines does not swing with the abandon of Waller, Stacy, Kyle, James P. Johnson or a halfdozen other pianists of today. Playing these several times will substantiate that statement.
Session Information
possibly WMGM Radio Station, NYC, July 29, 1939
Earl "Fatha" Hines, piano.
GM302x-2 Reminiscing At Blue Note Blue Note 5
Dan Morgenstern - Reminiscing At Blue Note - CD-8-28893-2
Richard Cook - Blue Note Records - Secker and Warburg
Stanley Dance - Pete Johnson / Earl Hines / Teddy Bunn Sessions - MR1-119
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