By John Morrison
Musician and teacher Lovett Hines is the Artistic Director/Founder of the Music Education Program at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts. A committed educator, Hines’ story reminds us of the power and necessity of mentorship in jazz. Hines studied music at Combs College of Music, Grambling State University, and the University of Maryland. He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the University of the Arts. An insatiable intellect and willing mentor, Lovett Hines’ legacy is that of a lifelong learner and teacher.
Hines was born on July 27, 1943. He grew up in a tight-knit community in North Philly near 12th & Oxford. Speaking with Ars Nova for this piece, Hines recalled the closeness he felt throughout the neighborhood: “Everyone who was involved in the neighborhood was close-knit. The grocers, the corner stores. When we would go to the grocer, there was a young man there who would sit me on his knee and tell me stories while my mother was shopping.”
In addition to the social bonds he found in his neighborhood, Hines’ childhood was marked by an early exposure to the arts, spearheaded by his parents. “My mother was the block captain and on the weekends she’d take all the young people and the teenagers to cultural sites, like The Art Museum and the Museum of Natural History. There was a place called The Heritage House on Broad & Master. I used to go there and take art lessons, they had dance—all of that was available in our community.”
This plentiful arts education set Hines’ foundation, and music would act as a conduit for him to explore his curiosity further. Growing up near Columbia Avenue (now Cecil B. Moore Avenue), Hines heard plenty of jazz music coming from the clubs and bars along the famous strip. On local radio, he heard the sounds of Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, and Gospel on Sundays. As his mother was a member of the United House of Prayer For All People, Hines had an opportunity to learn piano at age six. His mother played piano by ear and urged him to take lessons with a member of their church community. Juanita Bradley was Hines’ teacher and a skilled multi-instrumentalist, playing piano and trumpet and directing the choir. “She was a phenomenal piano player and was one of the few piano players at the church who knew theory and read.” Hines’ recalled.
In a 2023 interview for Sweet Daddy Grace—a podcast about the United House of Prayer and its spiritual leader, Charles “Sweet Daddy” Grace—Hines talked about how Bradley’s tutelage set the tone for his future in music. “She gave me such a strong foundation in music that carried me for the rest of my life. Everything I did was based on that foundation.”
Despite Bradley’s talents as a teacher, Hines never truly took to the piano. Instead, he picked up the alto saxophone at age ten and was taught by Juanita Bradley’s husband, Eugene Bradley. From there, he embarked on a lifelong journey of learning and developing his own voice through the instrument. Hines played in the United House of Prayer band, which was known for playing “shout music,” the church’s unique blend of energetic jazz and Black sacred music. In addition to the practical and theoretical education he received in the church, Hines was introduced to the great jazz musicians of the day at home. Hines’ father would often have musician friends over and they’d introduce the young saxophonist to many of the great bebop players of the day, such as Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, and Lester Young. When Hines got to Benjamin Franklin High School, he became part of another rich legacy, as the school had produced several great jazz musicians.
“Benjamin Franklin had a history of great musicians. Odean Pope, Benny Golson, Rufus Harley. All those people came out of Benjamin Franklin.”
Playing in ensembles at Benjamin Franklin solidified and deepened his understanding of the music. Surrounded by progressive players and instructors, Hines played in various combos throughout high school. Along with his work learning standards, jazz, and classical pieces, Hines played popular songs like The Shadows’ “The Breeze And I” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You.” Upon graduating in 1962, Hines was presented with a potentially life-altering decision when he was drafted into the bloody, harrowing Vietnam War. While his mother urged him to declare himself as a conscientious objector to avoid combat, his father—a veteran—convinced him otherwise. “[He] came to me and said ‘Look, you play the horn. You’re an artist. You’ll probably go into special forces. This is a chance for you to go see the world. Take my word for it. I don’t think you’re gonna be in combat.’ ”
Hines took his father’s advice and accepted the draft. From there, he was sent to Fort Gordon (now Fort Eisenhower) near Augusta, Georgia, for basic training. Shortly after arriving at Fort Gordon, Hines successfully auditioned for the Army Base band. In order to strengthen his playing, he was sent to the Naval School of Music for 10 weeks of intense training. After he finished there, he was stationed at Orléans, France, with the 76th Army Band. Hines and the band would play concerts on and off the base, performing concerts in cities throughout France. “They had the concert band and they had the jazz band. In the concert band, I played bass clarinet, and in the jazz band, I played alto saxophone and a little bit of tenor—and if the music called for it, a little bass clarinet. I remember we started a combo and one of the kids said ‘Lovett, have you ever heard Eric Dolphy?’ I said no, so he said ‘Eric Dolphy plays bass clarinet, so we included it in our combo.”
Much like at the church and high school, Hines once again found himself surrounded by musicians. The only difference was that this time, the draft brought talent from all around the country. During this time, Hines got to play with and learn from college-level music professors, Berklee graduates, and gigging professionals alike. Being around such diverse and experienced players greatly impacted Hines’ understanding of the music as he looked to musicians like James Brown sideman Maceo Parker and saxophonist, Leonard Houston for inspiration. “Leonard was phenomenal. He was first chair in clarinet in the concert band, first alto in the jazz ban. He was a tremendous soloist and improviser. You had all of these classical musicians and only a few could actually solo. He was one of the really standout musicians who could do it all, and he became a role model for me. Technically he was strong, creatively he was strong, and he was a hip player.”
After completing two tours in the Army, Hines returned to Philadelphia, where he continued refining his skills and began playing gigs around town. Hines would also attend live shows at the Uptown Theater on Broad Street. Originally built in 1929, the massive 50,000-square-foot, 2,000-seat art deco theater house hosted concerts and, in the 1930s, screenings of Warner Brothers’ talkie films. In the 1940s, The Uptown was known for hosting “War Bond benefits,” live concerts in which war bonds would be sold to support the United States’ efforts in WW2. By the early 1950s, the Uptown had rebranded as a live music venue booking popular Black artists, and it would remain a venue until the late 1970s. As one of the premiere touring spots on the East Coast for Black musical acts, the names of artists who played The Uptown reads like a who’s who of popular Black music: Stevie Wonder, James Brown, The Supremes, and many more.
In his youth, Hines had many formative musical moments at The Uptown, first as a fan in the audience and later as a player up on the bandstand. Sometime between 1969 and 1970, trombonist Tyrone Hill (Sun Ra Arkestra) recruited Hines to play in the Uptown house band. There, Hines came under the direction of the Uptown’s legendary band leader/saxophonist Sam Reed. “Tyrone was always sitting in for Fred Joiner, a great trombone player. And I think Fred was Tyrone’s teacher. When they asked him if he knew an alto player, I think that’s when he told Sam about me.”
During his tenure at the Uptown, Hines met another teacher/mentor who helped enrich his understanding of the music: saxophonist, composer, and arranger Leon Mitchell. Mitchell would invite the young musicians in the band to his home to help them develop their playing. During these sessions, Mitchell taught the musicians the art of playing beyond the notation on the page. Mitchell helped Hines and his peers dig deeper into the nuance and feeling required to play the music properly.
“The great thing about Leon was that Leon was a teacher. We could read the charts but Leon was a stickler for phrasing and even reading more accurately. So he would take us over to his house and give us a clinic, although we were working. We would bring that skill back to the bandstand. So that learning element never stopped.”
Hines was able to apply the skill and understanding that his teachers imparted as he backed popular R&B acts like The Spinners, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Manhattans, The Stylistics, Barbara Mason, and more, during their appearances at the Uptown. With years of experience playing onstage, Hines would eventually take his talents into the studio with the band Heem (also known as Heem The Music Monsters). Working out of Sigma Sound Studios, Hines and his bandmates would find yet another teacher to help guide them through this new stage in their musical development. “Bobby Martin was a producer down at Philadelphia International.” “I think we spent two days recording, and they were so amazed with our youth, the musicianship, and the arrangements of the tunes we wrote. Bobby Martin being an arranger and writer, he really gravitated to us and became like our mentor.”
During their heyday, Heem only produced a handful of recordings. In 1976, Heem released a single called “Wake Up People,” an uptempo jazz-funk burner with a trippy psychedelic intro. “Wake Up People” was paired with the funky, mid-tempo tune “Piece Of The Rock” on the b-side. In 1977, Heem released another single titled “Funk Lives Here” with “ Party, Party, Shake Your Body” on the flip side, but neither made much noise commercially. Although both Heem releases went relatively unheard when they were released, both have become in-demand holy grails amongst record collectors.“Wake Up People / Piece Of The Rock” and “Keep God On Your Side / Going Down (Incognito)” have since been reissued.
Hines suspects that the band didn’t see much commercial success because their sound didn’t neatly fit into any familiar musical categories. “They had a hard time finding a place for the record because it was too jazzy for the R&B stations and too funky for the jazz stations.”
Hines eventually took all of the skill and experience that he’d gained and took the next logical step: teaching. In 1980, Hines came to Settlement Musical School and worked as the ensemble teacher, imparting the knowledge and wisdom that he’d acquired from decades of playing in bands to the next generation of jazz musicians. During his time at Settlement, Hines famously taught two future jazz legends, bassist Christian McBride and organist Joey DeFrancesco, as well as The Roots’ bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. In 1985, a new opportunity at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz And Performing Arts—then located at 114 South 13th Street—opened up.
Initially founded in 1966, the Clef Club was the social arm of Musicians’ Protective Union Local 274, the local Black musicians union. At the time, Black musicians were not allowed to socialize in many of the venues where they performed, so the Clef Club was established as a space for musicians to gather after hours. Hines founded the music education program and established the Clef Club as an institution, developing and incubating future generations of Philadelphia’s musical community. The new program began with only two students: saxophonist, Jaleel Shaw, and trumpeter, Daud El Bakara. Now, hundreds if not thousands of students later, the educational program that Hines has built there over the last four decades has not only enriched Philly’s music culture, it has contributed mightily to contemporary jazz at large. Today, the Clef Club stands at its new location at 736 South Broad Street, and the music education program continues to produce new musicians who will carry on the legacy that Lovett Hines has built. Reflecting on that legacy and the countless young people he’s mentored, Hines is grateful that he’s been able to pass on the lessons that were taught to him.
“This experience that I’ve had with young people, it becomes a pedagogy of itself. These musicians that I’ve had a chance to work with and [who] came through my tutelage are making a presence in the world. It’s something that’s unbelievably beautiful.”
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Ars Nova Workshop invites you to attend its 5th Annual Fundraiser on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, from 6 to 8 PM at Solar Myth, located at 1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. This year, we are honored to present the 2024 Nova Award to Lovett Hines, a beloved educator whose impact on music education has been invaluable.
Tickets are available for $150 plus a service charge. Your presence will help us celebrate Lovett’s significant contributions to our community and support Ars Nova Workshop’s mission to promote innovative artistic expression.
For more information or to purchase tickets click here.