Oberlin Celebrates Jazz Legend Milt Hinton June 12

The inaugural Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass will feature a daylong festival on Thursday, June 12, called "Celebrating Milt Hinton.”

Part of a multifaceted new relationship between Oberlin and the estate of the late bassist, the celebration culminates with an evening concert and reception in Oberlin Conservatory of Music's Warner Concert Hall. Events of the afternoon and evening on June 12 feature a guided tour of Oberlin’s special collection of Hinton’s papers and photographs, a film about his life, and performances by distinguished institute fellows and faculty, some of whom will play on the very instrument Hinton used during his career. The Hinton collection allows unprecedented insight into the people and places behind the music, useful to a broad range of students and scholars in the music world, as well as those in the social sciences and humanities. All festival events are free and open to the public.

"Celebrating Milt Hinton” begins at 2:30 p.m. with a guided tour of the Hinton estate collection and photographs documenting a 70-year career during the golden age of American jazz. Conservatory Special Collections Librarian Jeremy Smith will lead the tour. At 4:30, the film Keeping Time: The Life, Music and Photographs of Milt Hinton will be screened at Oberlin's historic Apollo Theatre. Following the film at 5:30, Hinton expert David Berger and principal guests of the Institute, among them friends and colleagues of Milt Hinton, will lead a short talk about Hinton’s life.

The 8 p.m. performance in Warner Concert Hall will be accompanied by a multimedia presentation of Hinton's photographs projected onstage and will feature performances on Hinton’s instruments. Institute fellows performing include the multifaceted and distinguished Richard Davis, John Clayton, and Rufus Reid. Institute faculty performing include Diana Gannett, Jerry Jemmott, Donovan Stokes, Philip Alejo ’05, and Oberlin faculty Scott Dixon ’02 and Peter Dominguez, director of the institute and festival.

Repertoire will showcase the broad variety of bass performance encompassing baroque, classical, new music, slap, jazz, electric, Latin, swing, blues, and ballads. Music for the evening includes pieces by Milt Hinton, Ravel, Bach, Stefano Scodanibbio, Manuel Ponce, Stevie Wonder, Horacio Cabarcos, and Johnny Mandel, with original works by Donovan Stokes and Rufus Reid.

"Celebrating Milt Hinton" venues:

• Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Warner Concert Hall are located at 77 W. College Street, Oberlin, Ohio.

• The Apollo Theatre is at 19 E. College Street in Oberlin.

More information can be found online at oberlin.edu/con or by contacting Oberlin Conservatory Communications at 440-775-8328 or cstrauss@oberlin.edu.