Earl Hines - In New Orleans (1975)

Giants of Jazz presents all of the music recorded in New Orleans, LA by 71-year-old Earl Hines on January 30 and 31, 1975. A consistently surprising pianist whose modernistic impulses began to revolutionize how jazz was played during the late '20s and (in solidarity with those of Duke Ellington) led directly to the innovations of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Jaki Byard, Hines sounds entirely at home among friends performing material from the traditional jazz and Dixieland repertoire. The band is excellent, with a front line of trumpeter Wallace Davenport, trombonist Tom Ebert and clarinetist Orange Kellin. The pianist's rhythm section mates were banjoist/guitarist Emanuel Sayles, bassist Lloyd Lambert and drummer Louis Barbarin. Hines sings on "(I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Have None Of My) Jelly Roll" and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans." Davenport is the vocalist on "Sugar Babe" and on Louis Armstrong's "Someday You'll Be Sorry." This compilation laces together two Biograph albums, In New Orleans and Way Down Yonder in New Orleans. Which makes for a satisfying one-disc dollop of outstanding old-fashioned jazz.