Jazz bassist and photographer Milt Hinton dies

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.

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.

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Milt Hinton
Jazz Odyssey: Milt Hinton

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