Hinton, Milton John

▪ 2001

      American jazz artist and photographer (b. June 23, 1910, Vicksburg, Miss.—d. Dec. 19, 2000, Queens, N.Y.), was among the great jazz bassists during a career that lasted nearly 70 years; he began performing in groups before the advent of swing, starred in Cab Calloway's popular big band, and eventually became a marathon man in recording studios, playing on an estimated 600 jazz albums as well as in another 600 nonjazz sessions. Hinton grew up in Chicago, where he began studying violin at Wendell Phillips High School, a hotbed of young jazz talent; he then played bass in Chicago bands and toured with violinist Eddie South before joining Calloway in 1936. Hinton's full tone and rhythmic vigour propelled the powerful Calloway big band and Calloway's small groups until 1951; at the height of the swing era Hinton also appeared on all-star recordings with Billie Holiday and Lionel Hampton, among others. Hinton later played with Louis Armstrong's All-Stars and with Count Basie before becoming one of the first black musicians in a television network orchestra; in 1954 comedian Jackie Gleason insisted on Hinton for his weekly CBS show. That position led, in turn, to Hinton's playing in a multitude of recording sessions—often three sessions a day—for his swing, harmonic sophistication, and refined sensitivity led him to adapt quickly to the differing demands of Dixieland, swing, bop, blues, and popular music. When the New York studio scene declined in the 1960s, he began touring internationally to jazz clubs and festivals and with stars such as Pearl Bailey, Barbra Streisand, and Bing Crosby. He also taught in New York City's Hunter and Baruch colleges and conducted interviews with historic jazz figures for the National Endowment for the Arts oral-history program. During most of his musical career he was an exceptional photographer as well, and hundreds of his candid pictures of jazz musicians were published in Bass Line (1988), his vivid autobiography, and in the photo collection OverTime (1991); both were completed in collaboration with David G. Berger, Hinton's former student.

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