Playing the Changes provides an unrivaled perspective on the life and legacy of jazz legend Milt Hinton, one of the 20th century’s most accomplished bass players. Developed by Oberlin College and the Milton J. Hinton Photographic collection, the exhibit contains some of Hinton’s most acclaimed original photographs taken between the 1930s- 1990s with insightful biographical materials drawn from the Milton J. and Mona C. Hinton Collection in the Oberlin Conservatory Library’s Special Collections.

“I’ve always tried to help young people. If someone wants to improve, if they have a sincere desire to learn, I’ve always tried to be there to give them whatever I can.” -Milt Hinton

Milton John Hinton (1910-2000) was a legendary bass player and photographer. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he became one of the most recorded bassists in history. He also took tens of thousands of photographs that capture his behind-the-scenes life in music. As the grandson of a slave growing up in rural Mississippi, Hinton knew the realities of racism. Discrimination continued during his Jim-Crow-era travels with the Cab Calloway Orchestra in the 1930s- 40s. In the 1950s, segregation persisted when Hinton worked to break through the color line in New York recording studios.

But as this exhibition shows, Hinton knew how to play the changes. Musically, he worked with performers across the spectrum of styles, from Cab Calloway to Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby to Barbara Streisand to Paul McCartney. Socially, he navigated the evolving expectations of what it meant to be an African American in the U.S. Through it all, he combined talent with perseverance to overcome life’s adversities, leaving behind a legacy that Oberlin College is proud to share.