From the Record Shelves #306

Just Too Soon

LP Jazz Panorama JPLP 19

The pianist as a solo instrument should imitate an orchestra, said Jelly Roll Morton, and his follower Earl Hines is surely one of these one-man bands. The tempo and the timing on a number like this are bound to catch your attention at once and to keep it through the three minutes approximately.

He has a tremendous technique but also a good combination of a well-planned structure and a good portion of wild, exciting ideas.

It sounds sometimes almost as if the two hands and the ten fingers have run away from their master and that he has a hell of a time to keep them in control. But he manages, of course, and behind it all there is a mind that really knows how to swing. The recording was made in December 1928.

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