Jim Hall and Me…
My feeling about my own playing is that I'm not a virtuoso, but I listen well and react to other players well. Even in my own trio, I never think of the group as a guitar plus a supporting rhythm section. Each one of these guys is a creative, growing musician. and I treat them that way.
Jim Hall
The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (1957 recordings, 1988 reissue) signed by Jim
Jim was one of the first guitar players I really liked. I bought an Art Farmer album, Live At The Half Note, when I was fourteen, and it featured Jim. I saw there was another way to play the guitar. His sound was warmer than other guitarists, and he's so musical. I heard it all there. He played with space, but it's not just that. His chords, his beautiful lush chords, he was a hip guitar player. He played hip.
guitarist John Scofield
50 Years Of Jazz guitar (1978) signed by Jim, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, Les Paul
You've still got to make music, though. All of the technical things? Those are just tools, and there still has to be something personal at play. I'd rather hear B.B. King play three notes than hear a lot of guitar players play all night with their zillions of chops, because there's something about B.B.'s intelligence. I always figured I've made a living recovering from mistakes. You take something where you maybe didn't literally mean to play it, and you try to make it fit somehow, and it's fun. So that's what I'm interested in - making what everyone does right for the moment and for the music.
Jim Hall
Easy Living (1966) signed by Jim
I know a guitar when I see it, that's about it. I have very little connection to the actual instrument. When traveling, I've gotten to the point where I just check the electric thing through, because it's gotten so complicated traveling. And it's disappeared a couple of times overnight, so I just sort of try and separate myself from it. It's a piece of wood, I can get another guitar. It's not my dog or my wife.
Jim Hall
Intermodulation (1966) signed by Jim
It got me practicing, I'll tell you that. It was daunting. I learned so much from Sonny. Sometimes, we'd be playing something with a nice groove. He wouldn't even have to tell us, but by the force of his playing, he would stop everything and kind of take the tune apart and examine it, then put it back together. It was a great experience, personally and musically.
Jim Hall on performing with Sonny Rollins
Concierto (1975) signed by Jim, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, Sir Roland Hanna
By the time I began studying with him, I had already transcribed a bunch of his solos, even if I wasn't too advanced a player. There was this liquid quality to his music, and there was so much coming out of him. He'd phrase like a horn, and his chord voicings were incredible. He was doing so much orchestrally, and he'd ask me questions that opened lots of doors. He'd say, 'Have you heard what Sonny Rollins does with this tune?' and I'd be off down a new avenue.
guitarist and former student Bill Frisell
Duets (1967) signed by Jim; Lee Konitz, Eddie Gomez, Elvin Jones, Dick Katz, Joe Henderson
The first time I heard Jim Hall I was under the influence. I was visiting my friend Tommy W. in his home in the 1970s. Tommy's dad was a dentist who had his office in a separate wing. Each Saturday, Tommy's family would leave in the afternoon to visit family relatives in a nearby town. Tommy always begged off accompanying them, there was homework to finish or some other fetching excuse. That left us to explore his father's office unsupervised, and, inevitably, we would end up in the dentist chair hitting on nitrous oxide, among other things. Sufficiently lubricated, we would listen to music, and one fine sunny, stoned day, Tommy introduced me to Jim Hall Live!. Thelonious Monk's " "Round Midnight", Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple", and Jerome Kern's "The Way You Tonight" were revelatory in the hands of Jim Hall as his dexterous and fleet, quicksilver runs on guitar transformed these songs. Maybe it was the nitrous, or the smoke, or the booze, but there was definitely something happening that demanded further examination and exploration. Sadly, after two or three more excursions, Tommy's father noticed the declining nitrous tank levels, and I was banned from future 'play dates.' However, all was not lost. To this day, whenever I visit a dentist and recline back in the chair, I have fond remembrances of those warm, narcotic days past.
Jim Hall Live! (1975) unsigned, thank you Tommy W.
“If I had to pick one Jim record, it would be that one. I would go as far as saying there’s a consensus there. That was the ideal band, the ideal tunes, the ideal setting.” Pat Metheny
Born in Buffalo, raised in Cleveland, Jim Hall was an influential guitarist. Premier Guitar magazine states boldly, "It could be argued that the jazz guitar tree is rooted in four names: Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Jim Hall." I might add Les Paul, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis or Kenny Burrell for their consideration, but that is a minor quibble.
Jim started out listening to country music,"The first music I heard was my uncle Ed playing the guitar and sort of singing country songs. My mom played the piano a little bit. She kind of played church music on the piano and she had what I guess is the good sense to buy me a guitar when I was a kid. I started playing at about 13." Everything changed when Jim listened to a Benny Goodman record, "I heard Charlie Christian's solo on 'Grand Slam.' Two choruses of the Blues in F, and it was like a spiritual awakening, which I've never had otherwise. That really changed my life. I didn't even know for sure what it was he was doing, but it sounded so amazing, I wanted to be able to do that. And the great thing about it, is that when I hear that now, I have the same reaction, which is, 'Gee that sounds great. I wish I could do that.'
Chico Hamilton Quintet In Hi Fi (1956) signed by Jim, Chico Hamilton
Upon graduation from high school, Jim studied at the Cleveland Institute For Music where his music education flourished. Counterpoint, music theory, and exposure to classical composers Bartok, Hindemith, and Mozart widened Hall's knowledge and circle considerably. When he received his Master's, he and and a friend decided to light out for a new territory - Los Angeles. Jim explained, "A saxophone player named Ray Graziano and I drove (for payment) this lavender Cadillac convertible to Los Angeles from Cleveland." Doesn't every Angeleno (circa 1955 or now!) need a lavender Cadillac convertible? After staying with his aunt and getting a job as a sheet music clerk, Jim recalled his big break, "A French horn player called me to rehearse with them for a quartet. It was one of those things of being at the right place at the right time. Chico Hamilton called and said, 'I'm looking for a guitar player.' John (my friend) said, 'I just happen to have one.' It must have been the next day or so, I went over to Chico's house and auditioned and I got a job with Chico Hamilton who was forming a new quintet."
Alone Together (1972) signed by Jim, Ron Carter
This led to Jim's first appearance on vinyl in 1955, The Chico Hamilton Quintet, Featuring Buddy Collette. Four other albums soon followed with Chico and Jim's career was off and running. Over the next ten years, Jim would record with Jimmy Giuffre, Art Farmer, Bill Evans, Paul Desmond, and Sonny Rollins on some of their important works. He also found time to tour with Ella Fitzgerald and appears on her 1960 smash hit, Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife. Jim remembered his time with her and her talent fondly, "I took (guitarist) Herb Ellis' place with Ella. That was a marvelous experience. I told Tommy Flanagan once...that her pitch was so good, I would tune up to Ella. If I had a choice, I would listen to Ella and tune my guitar to her. And playing with that great rhythm section, (drummer) Gus Johnson and (bassist) Wilfred Middlebrooks, it was great. I really learned a lot from that. I had to practice my rhythm guitar playing quite a bit. Also what was interesting was working with somebody who was that famous. Huge crowds would turn out to see her. All of that was pretty different for me. I went to South America for the first time with her. We were in Brazil and Argentina, that was fascinating."
Where Would I Be? (1971) signed by Jim
After nearly ten peripatetic years on the road, Jim got married in 1965, and he and his wife decided to settle down and live in New York City, He joined the Merv Griffin television show band, an artistically unsatisfying job. Though the band had other accomplished jazz artists (Bob Brookmeyer, Benny Powell, Richie Kamuca, and Jake Hanna), they were a neglected sidebar to Merv's Borscht Belt shtick and inane patter. By default, he got to play with Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others when they visited, but, mostly, Jim thought the music was "garbage." Jim recounted, "I was there for three-and-a-half years, I guess. Merv had some fascinating guests, I remember, but the music, you can imagine what that was like....Then the Griffin show, fortunately for me, moved out to Los Angeles. I didn't go with them, I started doing other stuff." That other stuff led Jim to releasing more than forty albums as a leader/co-leader and appearing on hundreds of sessions.
Jim Hall and Red Mitchell (1978) signed by Jim “The Blue Dove”
I saw Jim Hall many times over the years in jazz clubs in New York City. He looked like a mild mannered accountant or bookish college professor, but when he plugged in and started playing furious riffs on his guitar, there was no denying his magnetism, charm and virtuosity. A riveting performer on stage, he was humble and self-effacing off stage. He signed each of his vinyl with a seeming bemused indifference.
Near the end of his career, Jim reflected on his playing, "I'm enjoying playing more and more, I'm having fun. I keep younger guys around me to keep me stretched out. And I'm not as hard on myself, I don't mind messing up a bit. There's always tomorrow. I hope my own playing is changing daily. I keep experimenting with new things. I have good feelings about music because I'm always most interested in the next performance." Affixed to the inside of his guitar case was a sticker, "Make musical sense." A benevolent dictum, he accomplished so much more. Jim Hall, a virtuoso guitar player and wonderful listening experience, especially without nitrous.
Music Of Bill Evans (1986) signed by Jim, Eddie Gomez, John Harrington, Hank Dutt, Jean Jeanrenaud, John Sherba
Choice Jim Hall Cuts (per BK's request)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDs8JxxAnlU
Jim Hall plays with Merv Griffin 1965
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Jvst3madw
”Blue Dove" Jim Hall and Red Mitchell Live at Sweet Basil's 1978, two masters exquisitely play an old Mexican folk song...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIq5w-NogWA
”The Bridge" Live with Sonny Rollins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjsJQ4EYRNM
”My Kinda Love" Live with Art Farmer, Steve Swallow, Walter Perkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWo7yxpdhg
Easy Living" Jim Hall with Paul Desmond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kt88RUPw14"
“Fly Me To The Moon" Jim Hall Live! 1975
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTKpxU8aaKY
”Autumn Leaves" Alone Together 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxlfprbvc_I
”The Answer Is Yes" Concierto 1975 written by his wife, Jane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZtuMZxXZN0
”My Funny Valentine" Live with Kenny Barron, Scott Colley, Lewis Nash 2009
Bonus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45cX7ZOA-Lk"
“Grand Slam" Charlie Christian...It all starts here!
All Across The City (1989) unsigned, World Trade Center 1 and 2 in background