Carl Hines
Jazz Pianist, Educator, Poet
Inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame in 2011
Carl Wendell Hines Jr.
(September 1, 1940 - Present)
Carl Hines was a mathematics teacher at Crispus Attucks High School and Arsenal Tech High School who performed on Indiana Avenue for many years. Born in North Carolina, his father was a self-taught musician. At fifteen he heard Clifford Brown and Max Roach’s recording of “Cherokee” which solidified his desire to play jazz music. He attended Tennessee State Agricultural Industrial University where he majored in mathematics and where he played with other outstanding jazz musicians on campus. He later earned his master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Hines traveled to NYC to explore the jazz scene but moved to Indianapolis to find employment which he did with a teaching position at Crispus Attucks in 1964. While teaching, he started playing piano on the Avenue and became a part of the Indianapolis jazz scene.
Hines’ poetry has also received acclaim. “Two Jazz Poems” was published in American Negro Poetry. In 1968, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, Hines wrote a poem dedicated to King’s memory entitled “Now That He Is Safely Dead” which is often recited and referenced on MLK day across the United States.
