In 1928 (on his 25th birthday) Hines began leading his own big band. For over 10 years his was "The Band" in Al Capone's Grand Terrace Cafe — Hines was Capone's "Mr Piano Man". Hines recorded for Victor in 1929, then after a gap for Brunswick from 1932-1934, Decca from 1934-1935, then after another gap, Vocalion from 1937-1938 and Bluebird from 1939-1942 (nearly all among the best Black Jazz of the era). From the Grand Terrace, The Earl Hines Orchestra (or "Organization" as he more happily referred to it) broadcast on "open mikes", sometimes five nights a week and over many years, coast to coast across America — Chicago being well placed to deal with the U.S. live-broadcasting time-zone problem. Hines's band became the most broadcast band in America. Sometimes Nat "King" Cole was Hines's relief pianist (though Cliff Smalls was his favorite) and it was here with Hines that Charlie Parker got his first professional job...until he was fired for his time-keeping — by which Hines meant Parker's inability to show up on time despite Parker resorting to sleeping under the Grand Terrace stage in his attempts to do so. Hines led his big band until 1947, taking time out to front the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1944 while Duke was ill...but the big-band era was over. (Thirty years later, Hines's 20 solo "transformative versions" of his "Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington" recorded in the 1970s were described by Ben Ratliff in the "New York Times" as "as good an example of the jazz process as anything out there".)
At the start of 1949 Hines rejoined Armstrong in the latter's "All Stars" "small band", where Hines stayed through 1951. He then led his own small combo around the States and Europe. At the start of the jazz-lean 1960s he settled in Oakland, California, opened a tobacconist's, and came close to giving up the profession. Then, in 1964 Hines was "suddenly rediscovered" following a series of concerts in New York. He was the 1965 "Critics' Choice" for Down Beat Magazine's "Hall of Fame". From then till he died he recorded endlessly both solo and with jazz notables like Cat Anderson, Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Gonsalves, Sonny Greer, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Budd Johnson, Jimmy Rushing, Stuff Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Venuti and Ben Webster. Possibly more surprising were Elvin Jones, Peggy Lee, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington — and Ry Cooder. But his most acclaimed recordings of this period were his dazzling and endlessly inventive solo performances, which could show him at his very best, "a whole orchestra by himself".[12] Solo tributes to Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin were all put on record in the 1970s. Hines also toured Europe again regularly at this time, and added Asia, Australia and the Soviet Union to his list of State Department–funded destinations. At the top of his form, Hines also displayed his endearing quirks (not to say grunts) in these performances. Sometimes he sang as he played, especially his own "They Never Believed I Could Do It - Neither Did I". In 1975 he made an hour-long "solo" film for British TV out-of-hours in a Washington nightclub: the "New York Herald Tribune" described it as "The greatest jazz-film ever made". He played solo in The White House and played solo for the Pope — and played (and sang) his last job a few days before he died in Oakland, quite likely somewhat older than he had always maintained.
I Aint Got Nobody
Earl Hines Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me to save my tears
Well I'm so mad about him
I can't live without him
Never treats me sweet and gentle
The way he should
I've got it bad
My poor heart is so sentimental
Not made of wood
I've got it so bad
And that ain't good
But when the fish are jumpin'
And Friday rolls around
My man an' I, we gin some
We pray some, and sin some
He don't love me like I love him
The way he should
I've got it bad
And that ain't good
Yes I've got it bad
And that ain't good
The lyrics of Earl Hines's song "I Ain't Got Nobody" express the pain of being in love with someone who does not reciprocate that love. The singer of the song feels frustrated as she tells us that people with "good intentions" advise her to stop crying over someone who does not care. However, she cannot help but feel deeply in love with this person and is unable to live without them. The lyrics reveal the singer's emotional vulnerability as she expresses her desire for her lover to be sweet and gentle with her, but acknowledges that he never treats her the way she deserves.
The singer's heart is "sentimental, not made of wood," showing that she is deeply emotional and feels things intensely. She acknowledges that she has it bad and that "ain't good," meaning that her love for this person is causing her pain and sadness. However, she also reveals that despite his mistreatment, they still spend time together, often drinking and praying.
The lyrics of "I Ain't Got Nobody" are a raw expression of the pain and frustration of unrequited love. The song speaks to the human experience of loving someone who does not love us back, and the emotional toll it can take.
Line by Line Meaning
Though folks with good intentions
Tell me to save my tears
Well I'm so mad about him
I can't live without him
Even though well-meaning people advise me not to cry
I am deeply in love with him
And I cannot imagine living without him
Never treats me sweet and gentle
The way he should
I've got it bad
And that ain't good
He never treats me the way I want to be treated
I am deeply in love with him
But this feeling is not good for me
My poor heart is so sentimental
Not made of wood
I've got it so bad
And that ain't good
My heart is emotional and not rational
I am deeply in love with him
But this feeling is not good for me
But when the fish are jumpin'
And Friday rolls around
My man an' I, we gin some
We pray some, and sin some
Sometimes we are happy together, like when the fish are jumping
On Fridays, we drink, pray, and sometimes do things we shouldn't
He don't love me like I love him
The way he should
I've got it bad
And that ain't good
He doesn't love me in the same way that I love him
I am deeply in love with him
But this feeling is not good for me
Yes I've got it bad
And that ain't good
I am deeply in love with him
But this feeling is not good for me
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@johnrothfield6126
Beautiful! 1928 Piano solo
@thendrjazz
Recorded while Hines is working with Louis Armstrong on his last records in Chicago in Dec. 1928. Both Hines and Armstrong were working with Carroll Dickerson's big band at the Savoy Ballroom on Chicago's South Side in the center of the very important African-American community. which had just in Nov. made Oscar DePriest the first African-American elected to the US congress in the 20th century.
@henrymichaelwilson8107
Was this one of the Grand Terrace recordings of 1928.
@thendrjazz
Hines's band opens at the Grand Terrace on the South Side of Chicago in Dec. 1928 but the only records he makes at this time are the small group work with Louis and some piano solos. The first version of the Grand Terrace band records in Feb. and Oct. 1929. The new expanded version of that band begins recording in June and July 1932 and would keep recording through the rest of the 1930s..
@OnlyOneKenobi
WDW Port Orleans French Quarter brought me here! 😉