Jim Hall (musician)

James Stanley Hall (December 4, 1930 – December 10, 2013) was an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Hall moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, during his childhood.

Hall's mother played the piano, his grandfathers violin, and his uncles guitar.

He began playing the guitar at the age of 10, when his mother gave him an instrument as a Christmas present.

At 13 he heard Charlie Christian play on a Benny Goodman record, which he calls his "spiritual awakening".

As a teenager in Cleveland, he performed professionally, and also took up the double bass.

Hall's major influences since childhood were tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson.

While he copied out solos by Charlie Christian, and later Barney Kessel, it was horn players from whom he took the lead.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hall developed a preference for "challenging arrangements and interactive improvisation in duos and trios."

Hall toured during the late 1950s with Jazz at the Philharmonic and worked around this time in Los Angeles with Ben Webster, appearing on Ben Webster at the Renaissance (recorded in 1960).

In 1955, Hall attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he majored in composition, studying piano and bass in addition to theory.

In 1955 and 1956, Hall played in Chico Hamilton's quintet, a group associated with the cool jazz movement, and Hall's playing began to gain attention from critics and fellow musicians.

In 1956, Hall moved to Los Angeles, where he studied classical guitar with Vicente Gómez.

Hall left Hamilton's group to join another cool jazz ensemble, the Jimmy Giuffre Three, and he worked on and off with Giuffre from 1957 to 1960.

Hall recorded his first solo album for Pacific Jazz in 1957, though the album made only a modest impact, and Hall did not get to record a follow-up until 1969.

He taught at the Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts in the summer of 1959.

During 1959, he recorded the first of six albums as a featured soloist with Paul Desmond.

In 1960, Hall also toured and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald in Europe.

Hall moved to New York City around 1960 and began performing with band leaders including Lee Konitz (1960–61), Sonny Rollins (1961–62, 1964), and Art Farmer (1962–64).

Hall also worked as a studio guitarist for commercial recording dates during the early and mid-1960s.

As a freelance studio musician, he appeared on albums by singers Big Joe Turner, Johnny Hartman, June Christy, Big Miller, and Freda Payne, as well as on commercially-oriented orchestral pop and jazz albums by Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Oliver Nelson, and Gary McFarland.

His freelance jazz work in the 1960s covered a range of styles.

He participated in cool jazz, bossa nova, and third stream albums led by John Lewis, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, and Paul Desmond.

Hall recorded bebop and hard bop sessions with Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderley, and Sonny Rollins.

He recorded a soul jazz session with Hammond organist Paul Bryant.

In the late 1960s, Hall decided to leave his TV job and pursue a solo career more actively.

He formed a studio partnership with Bill Evans during this time, appearing on four albums with Evans from 1962 to 1966.

In 1962, he led a trio with pianist Tommy Flanagan and bassist Ron Carter (who was replaced by Red Mitchell in 1965).

Starting in 1963, Hall played in the studio orchestra at The Merv Griffin Show, working with Bill Berry, Bob Brookmeyer, Benny Powell, Art Davis and Jake Hanna.

He recorded and performed in Germany and Japan, appearing on the Berlin Festival Guitar Workshop LP (1968) alongside Barney Kessel and Baden Powell, and on the Guitar Genius In Japan LP (1970) alongside Kenny Burrell and Attila Zoller.

The German MPS label recorded Hall's second solo album, It's Nice to Be With You in 1969.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hall recorded with pianist George Shearing, classical violinist Itzhak Perlman, and had a studio reunion with Art Farmer.

Hall recorded steadily from the 1970s until 2010, releasing albums on the Horizon, Concord, MusicMasters, and Telarc record labels.

Hall continued to tour all over the world during these years as well.

In 1971, he began recording for Milestone Records, whose co-founder Orrin Keepnews had produced several records with Hall when running his previous label, Riverside Records.

While on Milestone, Hall recorded the first of three duet albums with Ron Carter.

Moving to CTI Records, Hall made the 1975 Concierto album, which featured Paul Desmond and Chet Baker, and became a critical and financial success.

Hall was an arranger and composer as much as a performer, known for developing motifs and using blues inflections.

These characteristics are showcased in his 1975 album Jim Hall Live!, with Don Thompson and Terry Clarke.

He also continued recording in duos with Red Mitchell and Ron Carter until 1985.