Bass Player: Milt ‘The Judge’ Hinton

In 1989, saxophonist Branford Marsalis recorded a sax/bss/drums trio album called ‘Trio Jeepy’. The band featured long time Marsalis sideman Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts on drums but, for the bass chair, Marsalis strayed from the stable of so called and called a bass player who was as steeped in the history of Jazz as was possible at the time. Milt Hinton had cut his teeth with no less that Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Al Cohn, Kenny Burrell, Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton and even Charles Mingus. The Judge remained one of the strongest swingers right up until his untimely death in 2000, aged 90. His slap bass technique was legendary but, on this tune, it is ‘Old Man Time’. Almost entirely straight quarter notes, the line for ‘House From Edward’ is an easy read for anyone who is looking to understand the function of the bass on a simple F blues tune.