Celebrity Deathwatch: Milt Hinton, Jazz Bassist/Photographer, 90

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/12/20/obit.hinton.ap/index.html

Jazz bassist and photographer Milt Hinton dies
December 20, 2000
Web posted at: 12:01 PM EST (1701 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- Milt Hinton, a jazz bassist and photographer called "The
Judge" by the jazz greats he worked with and photographed during a 70-year
career, has died. He was 90.

Hinton died Tuesday at a hospital in Queens after battling an extended
illness, his longtime friend and collaborator David Berger said.

During his career, Hinton performed with almost every luminary of jazz and
popular music, from Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie and John
Coltrane to Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney.

Hinton also documented his world with a camera, compiling close to 60,000
negatives depicting hundreds of jazz artists and popular musicians on the
road, in the studio, backstage and at parties.

After years of playing in and around Chicago as a free-lance musician,
Hinton joined Cab Calloway's band in 1936. During his 15-year stint with
Calloway, Hinton was also featured on dozens of recordings with Benny
Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins and Billie Holiday, among others.

Two books of photographs
When Hinton left Calloway's band in the early 1950s, he moved to New York
and continued to work as a studio musician. For the next 20 years he played
on thousands of jazz and popular music albums, jingles and film soundtracks.

Hinton was humble in his role as an accompanist, once saying, "It's
necessary that you have enough humility to make somebody else sound good."

He was known for his outstanding ability to keep time, earning him the
nickname "The Judge."

Hinton's collection of photographs has been featured in two books, "Bass
Line: The Stories and Photographs of Milt Hinton" and "OverTime: The Jazz
Photographs of Milt Hinton," as well as in dozens of magazines and
newspapers.

Hinton received eight honorary doctorates as well as a "Eubie" award from
the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Hinton is survived by his wife, Mona, a daughter and granddaughter.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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