Pianist, bandleader and composer Earl Hines was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 28, 1903. His unique playing style made him one of the most influential pianists in jazz history.

Hines was born into a musical family and as a child he learned trumpet from his father and piano from his mother. His sister, also a pianist, led bands in the 1930s. Beginning in 1925 Hines toured with Carroll Dickerson’s orchestra. When Louis Armstrong took over the group in 1927, Hines stayed on as pianist and musical director.

In the late 1920s he participated in several groundbreaking recording sessions as a member of Armstrong’s Hot Five. Those recordings, which include West End Blues, Muggles, Skip the Gutter and Weather Bird, are jazz classics. On these sides, Hines demonstrates a virtuosic piano technique that was far more advanced than that of his contemporaries. He developed a “trumpet style” of improvisation in which he abandoned the block-chord technique of stride pianists and played often rapid single-note solo lines in the manner of a horn player.

From 1928 through the 1930s, Hines’ big band was the house band at Chicago’s Grand Terrace Ballroom. Regular radio broadcasts brought their music to millions of fans. In the early 1940s Hines formed a new band on the west coast that included such jazz pioneers as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstein. Unfortunately, few recordings of this group survive because the musicians’ union was on strike against the major record companies from 1942 to 1944.

Hines resumed his partnership with Louis Armstrong in 1948 and played in Armstrong’s All Stars until 1951. He next formed a sextet that became a fixture at San Francisco’s Hangover Club during the mid-1950s. Hines had a major career resurgence during the 1960s with concert performances and recordings that led to renewed critical and popular appreciation. During his years as an elder statesman of jazz, Hines’ technique remained as strong as ever, and his performance at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival revealed his continued openness to new ideas. Earl “Fatha” Hines, as he became known, set the standard for generations of jazz pianists including such comparatively modern players as Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson. He passed away in 1983 just a few months short of his 80th birthday.

Here is a link to Armstrong and Hines playing a classic duet:

"WEATHER BIRD"