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Artist
Randy Hall
12+ albums
drjazzmrfunkmusicOld School soulchicagoland
about
Randy Hall is a singer/guitarist/producer, who grew up in Chicago. His first instrument was the piano, but at thirteen, he switched to guitar, taking guitar lessons from British jazz guitarist Peter Budd. Despite Budd's best efforts, Hall adopted a playing technique similar to Wes Montgomery, whereby the thumb is used as a pick. Even so, Hall can play fast and explosively (if you want evidence of this, check out the opening number "One Phone Call/Street Scenes" on the ESP 2 DVD "A Tribute to Miles."). Hall had met Miles's nephew (and future drummer) Vince Wilburn Jr at kindergarten and the two became life-long friends. Wilburn's mother Dorothy, was Miles's sister. When Wilburn heard rumours that Hall was now playing guitar and sounding like Jimi Hendrix, he decided to check out his friend "I went to see Randy and he just floored me," recalls Wilburn. The two friends started playing together and at the age of sixteen, joined a local band Time, Space and Distance. The two young musicians' musical prowess soon gained them a reputation around Chicago and they did session work for local groups, including The Dells. When Hall and Wilburn were around seventeen, Pete Cosey, who had played in Miles's band from 1973-1975, began giving the youngsters lessons. "We were doing gigs with Pete, festivals and things like that. Pete would play bass and I would play guitar," recalls Hall. In 1975, Hall went off to study music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. When Hall returned to C
