Baruch College has a long history of attracting famous people to its classrooms as guest lecturers, and among the many folks who have shared their talent and expertise with students was legendary bass player Milt Hinton, who conducted jazz workshops at Baruch during the 1970s and ’80s. The College returned the favor by inaugurating a concert series in his honor in 1991.
Once again, in 2011–12, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives Concert Series, the College recognizes Hinton’s 70-plus years as a jazz musician with tribute events ranging from a documentary film to live music by contemporary jazz musicians, including Jay Leonhart & Friends on Dec. 5 and the Harvard Jazz Band with Cecil McBee on Mar. 4. An exhibition at Baruch’s Sidney Mishkin Gallery featuring photographs taken by Hinton, Milt Hinton’s Jazz Photographs: Classics & Works in Color, runs through Dec. 12.
Nicknamed the “Dean of Jazz Bassists,” Hinton was one of the most recorded musicians of all time, playing on more than 1,000 recordings with such artists as Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. Hinton was also a gifted amateur photographer: over his lifetime, he amassed more than 20,000 photographs documenting the world of the jazz musician.
He photographed fellow musicians, such as Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong, and documented the racial climate enveloping African Americans during the time of segregation. In one photograph dated 1940, Hinton and some bandmates are seen outside a Georgia train station under a sign that reads “Colored Entrance.”
Hinton received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Baruch in 1996. A longtime Queens resident, he died in December 2000 at the age of 90.
“Our students and faculty have benefitted enormously from two decades of Hinton jazz concerts, often attending these performances in connection with classes,” said Jeffrey Peck, dean of Baruch’s Mildred and George Weissman School of Arts and Sciences. “Jazz is a living art form, especially here in New York, and I couldn’t ask for a better illustration of how the Baruch experience is inseparable from the culture of the city itself.”
“We’ve presented more than 80 concerts to almost 20,000 audience members since the series was launched,” said John Malatesta, managing director of Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC). The Hinton Jazz Perspectives Series provides live concerts for the Baruch community as well as the general public.
—Barbara Lippman
To learn more about the yearlong tribute and for complete information about BPAC’s full season of events, visit www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac.