In 1937 the tuba is gone and there's a noticeable swing style present. We also get to hear the fine arrangements by Cecil Irwin, who had died in a car crash two years earlier. One of the box's finest tracks is Irwin's chart for Rhythm Sundae.
In 1941, Hines even carried a vocal groupThe Three Varietiesand we hear them on It Had to Be You (with a Budd Johnson solo) and on I've Got It Bad and That Ain't Good, I Never Dreamed (You'd Fall in Love With Me), The Boy With Wistful Eyes and She'll Always Remember.
Another high point is Budd Johnson's big-windup arrangement for Skylark in 1942, with Billy Eckstein's vocal and a smokey solo by Johnson.
Interestingly, the Hines band never fully embraced bebop, even by 1945. The orchestra throughout the years was first and foremost a platform for Hines's daring piano. I suspect even with Parker and Gillespie, the band was a lot less forward-thinking than most people imagine or recall.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the seven-CD Classic Earl
JazzWax clip: Here's Earl Hines in 1965 playing Memories of You. The variety of stride styles, the imaginative way in which he takes the song apart, and how he builds tensionnot to mention the sheer polish and cockiness of his delivermake for a startling performance...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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