Milt Hinton

Milton J. " Milt " Hinton (nicknamed The Judge ), (born 23 June 1910 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, † December 19, 2000 in Queens, New York) was an American jazz bassist, singer, bandleader, composer, photographer, researcher, and author.

Life and work

Milton was the son of a music teacher and organist, grew up in Chicago and first learned violin, horn and bass saxophone. In high school, he began playing bass and studied music at the Crane College and Northwestern University. He played in the bands of Boyd Atkins and Tiny Parham. From 1931 he was the violinist Eddie South, then at Erskine Tate, Freddie Keppard, Jabbo Smith and 1936 in a trio of Zutty Singleton. 1936 to 1951 he was in the band of Cab Calloway. After its dissolution he played in New York et al with Joe Bushkin, was briefly in Count Basie and 1953 /4 with Louis Armstrong on tour in Japan. He also played with Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman in 1955. From the mid- 1950s he was primarily a studio musician at CBS. Occasionally he appeared yet, so at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 with Teddy Wilson, Ben Webster, and as a companion of singers such as Sammy Davis, Judy Garland, Diahann Carroll, Harry Belafonte (1965 /6). By Michael Fleming, Lisle Atkinson, Richard Davis, Ron Carter, and Sam Jones, he was at this time also to Bill Lee's New York Bass Violin Choir. He was record producer and wrote film scores. From the 1970s he appeared again on a regular basis, including as a guest of Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (1972) and increasingly from the 1980s in a role as the " Grand Old Man" of jazz. In 1988, he participated in Branford Marsalis ' trio album with Jeepy. His 80th birthday was celebrated in 1990 with a concert at New York's Town Hall and his 90th birthday in 2000 with a concert at the JVC Festival in New York.

1975 ( by the readers ) and 2001 ( critics poll) he was elected to the Down Beat Hall of Fame. He received many awards, among others, 1991 Benny Carter Award. He was eight honorary doctorates.