[Dixielandjazz] FW: A Milt Hinton documentary

[Bill Haesler]

Dear friends,
This one from another list.
Did anyone see it?
Kind regards,
Bill.
_______________________________________________
The following is a review from variety.  I'm not sure what the "Wed.
Jan. 7, 7:00 PM ET" refers to.  Was this shown on TV recently?
Sounds like a very interesting hour.  I have one of Hinton's books of
photos and he was always a great subject for an interview.

Keeping Time: The Life, Music &  Photographs of Milt Hinton

Wed Jan 7, 7:00 PM ET

RONNIE SCHEIB 

Legendary jazz bassist Milt Hinton furnishes both sound and image for
this joyous journeyman docu. A talented amateur
photographer, Hinton chronicled 65 years of jazz greats as, at one
time or another, he played  with them all. Trio of filmmakers
interweaves rich black-and-white archival performance footage,
Hinton's own evocative photographs, and short interview snippets with
numerous jazz writers and artists including the genial Hinton
himself, who died in 2000 at the age of 90 just before the film
wrapped. Docu should play sweet on public or music-related TV and in
ancillary music markets.

Hinton started in Chicago as a violinist with silent movie
orchestras,  moving to the bass after the advent of talkies. Hinton,
who developed a distinctive slapping string style on bass, soon joined
Cab Calloway's band traveling countrywide with the flamboyant
bandleader and snapping thousands of pictures. Some photos record the
world-renowned band's encounters with Southern hospitality,
as the group is seen mockingly posing by "colored" drinking fountains
or in front of segregated motels.

After the disbanding of the big bands, Hinton became one of the very
few black musicians to break the color barrier and secure a job
as a studio musician, thanks to a chance meeting with longtime friend
Jackie Gleason who insisted Hinton join his TV orchestra. (One
of the reasons there were so few black studio musicians was the
racist belief  that blacks could not read music.)

Arguably, pic's most fascinating section concerns the craft of the
studio musician, as expounded on by Quincy Jones, among others.
The studio musician was required to come in cold and play any kind of
gig,  from a three-bar commercial jingle to a lush film score to
a bluesy Gerry Mulligan arrangement. As it happens, Hinton was
already famous in jazz circles for his variegated repertoire and
ability to play in astonishingly diverse styles.

Images from Hinton's archive testify to the vast range of performers
with whom he played: candids of Harry Belafonte  with his baby
daughter, snapshots of a young, anxious Barbra Streisand, and contact
sheets full of a broody Billie Holiday, whose final failed
recording session Hinton recalls in detail, while on the soundtrack
Holiday's quavering voice cracks and skids.

A seemingly endless montage of album covers further attests to the
fact that Hinton became one of the most recorded bassists of all
time, while clips show him playing club dates after hours, jamming
with the likes of  Coleman Hawkins or Dizzy Gillespie (with whom
he enjoyed a particular affinity).

Tech credits are fine and selection and editing of archival material
are first-rate. 
                      --
                      (Docu)

 A Slap Bass production. Produced by David G. Berger, Holly Maxson.

Directed, written by David G. Berger, Holly Maxson, Kate Hirson.
Camera (color/B&W, DV), Vic Losick, Greg Barna; editor, Hirson.
Reviewed on videocassette at African Diaspora Film Festival, New York,
Dec. 12, 2003. Running time: 60 MIN.

With: Milt Hinton, Branford Marsalis, Gregory Hines, Richard Davis,
Nat Hentoff, Joe Williams, Jeffrey Wright (narrator).