Earl Hines - Earl "Fatha" Hines (1970/2019) Hi Res

Earl Hines is accompanied by Ralph Carmichael's orchestra as he revisits a dozen standards and originals which he had recorded earlier in his career. In spite of the liner-note praise from both Nat King Cole and Stan Kenton (both of whom were also Capitol artists at the time), Carmichael's rather bland, unadventurous arrangements do not seem to inspire Hines very much, as his playing takes on a conservative, easy listening sound that isn't generally associated with him. Hines is in full steam tackling his landmark composition "Rosetta" and shows off a taste of his tremendous chops in "Little Girl," but these tracks ends up being the exception rather than the rule. The music is pleasant for background listening, but serious fans of Earl Hines are advised to get the pianist's own big band recordings or his solo and small-group dates as a leader, as these 1963 sessions for Capitol will doubtlessly disappoint most jazz fans.