[Dixielandjazz] Hines' broadcasts

[Glen Page]

Here is the promised followup to yesterday's post.

Hines himself wrote in "The World Of Earl Hines"   "..We opened at the Grand
Terrace on my birthday, 28TH December 1928" This will help to give the date
of his broadcasting career some perspective when he addresses it some pages
on.

Hines continues "We started broadcasting out of the Grand Terrace just after
the third year. We used to play on a small station they called the Cadillac
station."He goes on to make comments that indicate this to be a very
informal and folksy program. The next paragraph tells us a little more.

"This went on until larger stations were interested.NBC had two
stations,WMAQ and WNER, and they had what they called a blue line and a red
line. The blue line went to New York and the red line from Chicago to
California. So we would sign on in Chicago to New York at 11,play half an
hour, sign off and then sign right back on the red line going to California.
This red line took in quite a bit of Canada,so when we toured Canada there
was   as much enthusiasm.It got to the stage where we were broadcasting
every night and people were waiting up to hear us. ......I think that we had
more air time than any other band in the U.S."

I submit that the above answers both of your questions Ken. If you get a
chance to have access to the book you will find a lot of information written
both directly by Hines and many or his esteemed sidemen. 

The chronology given at the back of the book also casts light on his
activities as reported in the press at the time.Broadcasts on WEAF, New York
in 1931,also in'31 over WSBC from the GT. This detailed chronology covers
just about all his musical activities from 1914 to Nov. 1975.I was fortunate
to be able to hear on a few occasions in the later 70s when he had a solo
gig in a  hotel in Vancouver.

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Ken Mathieson
Sent: January 14, 2009 5:08 PM
To: glen page
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Earl Hines Big Band (was Time Machine)

Hi Folks,

In Don's post on the Time Machine thread, he mentions the great Earl Hines
band of the 1930s, which got me thinking. A number of years ago I gave a
record recital at the Glasgow Jazz Record Society, a venerable club dating
back to the early 1930s, when the only way for most people in the UK to hear
and learn about the classic American source material was by listening to
records, which they did by getting together in clubs and listening to each
other's discs.

My topic was Lorenzo Tio Jr and his influence on jazz reed playing, and in
my recital I followed the recording careers of his most illustrious pupils,
including Omer Simeon with Jelly and later with Hines. Also in that Hines
band was Darnell Howard, who, according to Harold Dejan, had also studied
with Tio in Chicago. Both men played alto and soprano as well as clarinet
and it is interesting to hear how the Tio clarinet approach translated to
alto. There were the long lines, the assured technical control, the tasteful
filigree ornamentation and, most notably, a time feel that was close to even
eighths and markedly different from the standard swing feel deriving from
Armstrong's time feel. All of these characteristics got carried over into
early bop and my questions to list members are:
  1.. Did the Hines band play regular radio broadcasts from the Grand
Terrace in the 1930s?
  2.. Did these reach as far as Kansas City?
It's interesting to speculate whether these broadcasts, (if they could be
picked up in KC),  were routinely listened to by Kansas City musicians and,
if so, did Tio's influence extend into bop via Charlie Parker?

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk  
_______________________________________________
To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:

http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz



Dixielandjazz mailing list
Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com