Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, one of the greatest piano virtuosi of early jazz, developed his improv style from listening to horn players – notably Louis Armstrong. Jazz pianists mostly played the rocking chords and regular bass patterns of the ragtime-derived stride style, but the newcomer unlocked the left-hand rhythm, while his right mimicked the wide interval leaps and rhythmic quirks of Armstrong’s trumpet. This package of seven CDs and a DVD (along with a good essay by US critic Dan Morgenstern) begins with solos from 1928 and includes eight 1940s tracks with Armstrong’s All Stars, but much of it features Hines with various trade-oriented bands in the 50s, and some later solo outings. Early pieces such as Blues in Thirds and Off Time Blues are stunning, but there’s no Weatherbird (the pianist’s breakthrough duet with Armstrong in 1928); the pianist is largely sidelined with the All Stars, and the variety of his own bands and collaborations doesn’t really get its due. Piano Genius at Work is a treat for Hines devotees and completists, but perhaps not an introduction for the intrigued.
