Nearly impossible to find now, this LP has all of the music recorded by
Earl Hines as a solo pianist (two versions of "Glad Rag Doll") and as a bandleader in 1929.
Hines, who would lead orchestras for 20 years, had a particularly strong big band from the start, with
George Mitchell and
Shirley Clay on trumpets and the reeds of
Cecil Irwin. This LP allows one to hear 15 performances of nine songs (there are quite a few very interesting alternate takes), and much of the music is exciting. Pity that the Depression would keep the band out of the studios until 1932, and that this music is not yet available in complete form on CD.