Singing, Playing And Tappin' For Maurice Hines

Singing, Playing And Tappin' For Maurice Hines

Bruce Von Stiers

I've always liked watching tap dancers. Dancers such as Fred Astaire, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Gene Kelly tapped their hearts, and feet, out. Even though tap has had it's ebb and flow over the decades, modern tap dancers such as Michelle Dorrance are still very popular.

One of the top tap dancers was Maurice Hines. He graced the stages of Broadway and was Nathan Detroit on a national tour of Guys and Dolls. He was also the older brother of dancer and actor Gregory Hines.

Near the end of his illustrious career, Maurice put together a song and dance performance. This was a tremendous dance and singing musical program celebrating his life as a tap dancer but also celebrating his brother and other tap dancers. He also celebrated vocalists who inspired him such as Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Judy Garland and Nat King Cole. Maurice named this performance, Tappin Thru Life.

Tappin Thru Life was performed on many stages. It had its final Broadway performance on February 21st, 2016.

Tappin Thru Life featured Maurice, a few vocalists and a tap-dancing duo who are brothers. It also featured members of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, a noted all female jazz ensemble.

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra has released a cast album for Tappin Thru Life. It was made to honor Maurice posthumously with music from that show. Maurice died in December of 2023. The title of this album is A Celebration of Maurice Hines, Tappin' Thru Life.

The members of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra are Sherrie Maricle, Amy Shook, Jackie Warren, Jennifer Krupa, Jami Dauber, Liesl Whitaker, Lauren Sevian, Laura Dreyer and Leigh Pilzer. Shook is the bassist, Warren the pianist and Krupa the trombonist for the orchestra. Dauber is on trumpet while Whitaker is the lead trumpeter. Sevian plays baritone saxophone and Dreyer plays tenor saxophone. Pilzer plays lead alto saxophone. Maricle is the orchestra's drummer and its musical director.

The album features a couple of vocalists. They were Clint Holmes and Ann Hampton Callaway. A show attraction in Las Vegas for many years, Holmes had a pop hit in the early 1970's with the song Playground In My Mind. Callaway wrote songs for Barbra Streisand and wrote and performed the theme song for the sitcom The Nanny.

In addition to Holmes and Callaway, there were vocals by brothers Leo and John Manzari. They also perform tap dancing on the album. Maurice discovered the two brothers, who performed in Tappin' Thru Life with him. They also performed with him at the Kennedy Center and other venues. They are both noted tap dancers, vocalists and actors.

This album features eighteen songs and has a play time of a bit over an hour.

The first song is Tappin' Thru Life Overture. It is an instrumental piece, featuring parts of It Don't Mean A Thing, Every Day I Have The Blues, Luck Be A Lady and Too Marvelous For Words. It is a fun and energetic way to introduce the music on the album.

Then there is the Frank Loesser song, I've Never Been In Love Before. Written as a duet for Guys and Dolls, the song has been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darrin and Doris Day. Here is it wonderfully sung by John Mazari.

Marzari also does the vocals for the great Memphis Slim song, Every Day I Have The Blues. Not only are the vocals great, there is a fantastic sax solo by Laura Dreyer. And Marzari provides a bit of tap dancing in the song as well.

Ann Hampton Callaway sings gently and softly with her rendition of I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face. This Lerner and Loewe song was from My Fair Lady. Originally sung by Rex Harrison for both the stage and film presentations of the play, it has been covered by numerous artists from James Taylor to Rosemary Clooney.

Things perk back up with Callaway singing the fun tune, Get Me To The Church On Time. It is a toe-tapping Lerner and Loewe tune.

In the film For Me and My Gal, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly sung and danced to the song Ballin' The Jack. For the song on this album Leo Marzari does both the vocals and tap dancing.

That is followed by a nice rendition of the Fats Waller classic Honeysuckle Rose by John Manzari.

Probably the most famous vocalist to sing Come Fly With Me was Frank Sinatra. It was supposed to have been written for him and was the title track for the album of the same name. Clint Holmes does a wonderful job singing the song on this album.

Then Holmes sings another great song, All The Way. This Jimmy Van Heusen song was previously recorded by artists such as Billie Holliday and Harry Connick, Jr.

The terrific Cole Porter song, I've Got You Under My Skin, is also on the album. Holmes does a nice job with the song. There is a really good trombone solo in the song.

There are a lot of Frank Sinatra songs that I like. One of my favorite songs of his is Luck Be A Lady Tonight. Holmes provides a melodic performance of this Frake Loesser penned tune.

The album also includes a piece that is only tap dancing. It is titled Ko-Ko and is a fantastic tap dance number.

Callaway does a heartfelt rendition of the Jimmy McHugh song, I Can't Give You Anything But Love. Then she picks the pace up a bit with the toe-tapping song, It's Only A Paper Moon. There is a nice piano solo in the song.

Smile is a song with an interesting history. Written by Charlie Chaplin as an instrumental piece for his film, Modern Times, lyrics were added later. Nat King Cole, Judy Garland and Lady Gaga all recorded the song. It is nicely done on this album by Holmes.

Holmes and Callaway have a wonderful duet with the Bert Kaempfert song L.O.V.E.

John and Leo Manzari do the vocals for the Duke Ellington classic, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. They also do about a minute and a half of tap dancing in the song.

The album closes with endearing vocals by Holmes and Callaway in the song, Too Marvelous For Words.

A Celebration of Maurice Hines, Tappin' Thru Life is a terrific album. It has several classic songs that I really like. And the theme of honoring vocalists who inspired Maurice, along with honoring the art of tap dancing is really great. Not only are there great vocal performances, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra does a fantastic job with the music in the songs.

A Celebration of Maurice Hines, Tappin' Thru Life is available through most major music retailers. You can also order it through the DIVA Jazz Orchestra website. That website has samples of a few of the songs from the album. The website is https://divajazz.com/

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