Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses his time at the Grand Terrace.

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Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses being a band leader.

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Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses songwriting.

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Q: “Will you tell me what goes on in your head when you’re playing? Do you have any idea, do you think of anything while you play?”

A: “No, as I said, I'm always adventuring. I'm trying to find something new, you know. I don't now as much as I used to, because let's face it, when you mature and you're out of the happy-go-lucky young life that you're in because that gives you a lot of young ideas and crazy ideas and you do a lot of crazy things with young people that you don't do when you get older. When you get older, you try to get relaxed now on as much as you possibly can and so what I do, I simplify a lot of things. I like to hear other guys play piano and I like to hear some of the new styles that they have and all that, but I don't try to copy anybody and if I hear some ideas, I'll use it in my way of thinking, you know. But I find that people still want to hear melody. They still want to hear the little beat, you know, you see. They want to hear melody and there has been any number of pianists that, well, just run all over the piano, but it's past the man. You see, they don't stop to realize and I realized this years ago that when you're performing for the public, you're performing for people that don't have any time to study music. They are in their offices, they're behind the bars or counters or the doctors and lawyers are constantly competing with the public and they're worn out when they get to during the day. And so when they go out to night clubs they want something that will give them a little relaxation, you see.”