Loading details…
Artist
Hal Stein
5+ albums
bluesjazz
about
Harold Jerome Stein (September 5, 1928 in Weehawken, New Jersey – April 27, 2008 in Oakland, California) was an American jazz musician and bebop saxophone player. Stein began performing on the tenor saxophone in the early 1940s in New York City. As a teen he frequently sat in with Don Byas, whom he considered a mentor, and Erroll Garner, at The Three Deuces on 52nd Street. In 1945 he was featured in concert with pianist Teddy Wilson at Town Hall (although he had recently completed high school, he was billed as a high school student to make more of a sensation) on the same bill with Byas, Stuff Smith, and Charlie Parker. During the same year, Stein recorded with Doc Pomus, Tab Smith and Leonard Feather. He went on to work with Gene Krupa, Buddy Morrow, Les Elgart, Artie Shaw, Charles Mingus, Rudy Williams, Roy Haynes, Georgie Auld, Claude Thornhill, J. C. Heard and others. He also played the alto saxophone, recording on it with Al Cohn on "Broadway" (1954); in his own session with Warren Fitzgerald, simply called Hal Stein and Warren Fitzgerald (reissued decades later after becoming something of a cult classic in Japan, under the name Hal Stein-Warren Fitzgerald Quintet-The Classic Sessions") with sidemen Bob Dorough, Paul Motian and Alphonso Cotton (1955); on vibraphonist Teddy Charles's albums The Teddy Charles Tentet album's cd re-release (1956) and Word from Bird (1957); and as one of the Four Altos with Juilliard buddy Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab, and Gene Quill (1957). He
