Live Broadcasts From The Hangover

Earl Hines seldom recorded as a leader in the early 1950s: a lone session in 1950, nothing in 1951, a single date for the obscure D'Oro label in 1952, two for King in 1953. The great value of this CD obviously is that it brings us music from exactly this period – live from the Club Hangover in early 1954 – and that it proves that Hines was playing as brilliantly as ever at this time. What makes the album the more welcome is that six of these pieces have not been issued before and now make their appearances 44 years after they were put on tape. Here Hines plays with unquenchable zest… superb improvisation demonstrating his ability to renew himself on material he had played countless times before… With Earl Hines one musical idea seems to grow out of another with unflinching inevitability!