After the taping of Rhythm Is My Business in 1992.
L. to R.: Milt Hinton, Don Mopsick, Ed Torres After the taping of Rhythm Is My Business in 1992.
L. to R.: Milt Hinton, Don Mopsick, Ed Torres
Milt Hinton was widely regarded as the dean of jazz bassists. Born in 1910 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Milt's career began in Chicago with Boyd Atkins, Jabbo Smith, and in 1931, Eddie South. He played with Freddie Keppard, Zutty Singleton, and Erskine Tate. In 1936, Milt joined Cab Calloway and stayed with him until 1951. During this period , he recorded with Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Ethel Waters, And Teddy Wilson. After leaving Cab, he began a long free-lance career in New York City. He has toured overseas with Pearl Bailey and Bing Crosby as well as stints with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. Other credits include many television, radio, and motion picture sound track performances, as well as Paul Anka, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis, Jr., Patti LaBelle, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, and Guy Lombardo. He was one of the most-recorded musicians in the history of the business.
At the 1995 Summit Jazz Festival in Denver, Milt was a member of the Bob Wilber All-Stars. Wilber introduced him saying that he possesses "..the strongest pulse of any bass player in the world." He is also the master of the "slap" bass technique that originated in New Orleans with Bill Johnson (born in 1872), a man Milt knew during his early Chicago days. Jazz historian Richard Hadlock has described Milt's slapping as "..a living link with the New Orleans bass style."
Milt had a keen interest in passing along the jazz tradition to younger generations and was eager to share his knowledge with music students of all ages. In recent years, he was a featured professor at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music's jazz program.
A parallel career for Milt was jazz photography. Some of his outstanding photos (there are 35,000 negatives) of jazz greats have been compiled in two books, Bass Line and Over Time, by Milt Hinton, David G. Berger, and Holly Maxson (Pomegranite Artbooks, Box 808022, Petaluma, CA 94975).
Milt Hinton died December 19, 2000 in New York City.
Personal note from JCJB bassist Don Mopsick: "I first got to know Milt after I
joined the Jim Cullum Jazz Band in 1991. He was always a lot of fun to be around and was
very interested in discussing topics related to playing jazz on the bass fiddle. My most
fond memories are of performing a novelty song with him, The Day The Bass Players Took
Over The World on Riverwalk as well as several jazz parties and concerts. While I
sang the melody of the tune, Milt would stand behind me and say, 'Right on!' Afterwards,
he told me, 'People seem to like our act.'
"For the production of Rhythm Is My Business on Riverwalk, we decided to
re-create a bass feature number that Milt had written for himself while he was with the
Cab Calloway band in 1936, Ebony Silhouette. It was the first recording anywhere
that anyone could remember of a bass fiddle being featured out front of a band playing the
melody of a tune, preceding the more well-known Ellington/Blanton feature Jack the
Bear by six years. I had transcribed the solo of Ebony Silhouette in 1973
while a student at Rutgers University. I plunked down my transcription in front of Milt in
1992 during the rehearsal for the Riverwalk production. 'I haven't seen this thing in 30
years!' said Milt. He performed it flawlessly.
"At a jazz party in North Carolina, I had a chance during a duo performance to
publicly thank Milt for inventing my livelihood for me."
Milt Hinton is featured in the Riverwalk programs:
Rhythm Is My Business: A Tribute To Milt Hinton
