Event
Hal Stein Quartet - Tenor Veteran Kickin' High
Veteran jazz saxophonist Hal Stein was front and center in New York's famed 56th Street jazz scene of the 1950's, playing with everyone from Gene Krupa to Artie Shaw to Charles Mingus. We've been blessed to to have him in the Bay Area since 1971.
In 1957, Stein appeared on the now classic LP, Four Altos, with fellow Charlie Parker followers Gene Quill, Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab. As Collectors Jazz says about Stein's playing on that record, "Hal Stein is an alto saxophonist out of Parker but with more warmth, greater lyricism and a less frantic attitude than most of the other descendants."
In 2006, Stein released Spirit! his first CD as a leader in quite some time, and critics rushed to sing the praises of CD and musician alike.
"[Spirit! is] the work of an artist who hasn't lost a step," said Andrew Gilbert of the Contra Costa Times. "Brawny and bruising on up-tempo pieces, sensual and insinuating on ballads, Stein's imposing sound is still huge and pliant. While there's no mistaking his roots in the early days of bebop, Stein is always looking for new ideas."
"God, it's good to have Hal Stein back on disc!" said esteemed critic Lee Hildebrand. "He was on the scene during the early days of bebop, and, more than a half century later, his passion is unabated. His tone on tenor saxophone is fat and his conception is mature, the product of a lifetime spent in the jazz trenches."
"Sometimes people don't realize how important Hal Stein is, but he was there at the center of the storm, at the heart of the kiln as it were." famed tenor saxophonist Phil Woods
Saxophonist Hal Stein was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1928. Since he was eleven, the veteran performer has lived and breathed music. At fifteen, Hal performed on tenor saxophone with Don Byas at New York's town Hall. The list of musicians and bands he has played with since the 1940's is truly phenomenal, and the Bay Areaâs jazz scene is undoubtedly enriched by the presence of this accomplished, creative, and encyclopedic musician in its midst.
Stein is not limited to a single format--heâs played in big bands as well as small combos. His performing experience reads like a whoâs who of the jazz world. A brief (!) sampling includes: Gene Krupa, Buddy Morrow, Joe Henderson, Artie Shaw, Charlie Spivak, Benny Carter, Georgie Auld Hampton Hawes, Charlie Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Tony Scott, Teddy Charles, Roy Haynes, Teddy Wilson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Kenny Dorham, Phil Woods, Elvin Jones, Kenny Drew, J.C. Heard, Joe Farrell, Trummy Young, Bill Evans, Henry âRedâ Allen, Chick Corea and Graham Connah.
And Stein hasn't been forgotten by those he touched with his music way back "in the day." Ira Gitler, one of the most renowned jazz writers of them all, wrote the liner notes to Four Altos way back in '57. Here's what he had to say about Stein's newest effort:
"I was delighted to hear [Hal Stein's] new CD, Spirit! He hasn't lost that spirit he absorbed playing in New York in the heyd
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LocationJazz at Pearl's
256 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133
United States
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