• Birth Name: James Stanley Hall
• Genre: Jazz
• Active: '50s - 2000s
• Instruments: Guitar (Electric), Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)

Biography

A harmonically advanced cool-toned and subtle guitarist, Jim Hall has been an inspiration to many guitarists, including some (such as Bill Frisell) who sound nothing like him. Hall attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and studied classical guitar in Los Angeles with Vincente Gomez. He was an original member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet (1955-1956), and during 1956-1959 was with the Jimmy Giuffre Three. After touring with Ella Fitzgerald (1960-1961) and sometimes forming duos with Lee Konitz, Hall was with Sonny Rollins' dynamic quartet in 1961-1962, recording The Bridge. He co-led a quartet with Art Farmer (1962-1964), recorded on an occasional basis with Paul Desmond during 1959-1965 (all of their quartet performances are collected on a Mosaic box set), and then became a New York studio musician. He has mostly been a leader ever since and, in addition to his own projects for World Pacific/Pacific Jazz, MPS, Milestone, CTI, Horizon, Artists House, Concord, Music Masters, and Telarc, Jim Hall recorded two classic duet albums with Bill Evans. A self-titled collaboration with Pat Metheny followed in 1999. A flurry of studio albums, reissues, and compilations followed throughout the next few years, with the exceptional Jim Hall & Basses standing out for its bass/guitar duet format. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Representative Songs:

"St. Thomas," "My Man's Gone Now," "Turn Out the Stars"

Representative Albums:

Alone Together, Dialogues, Concierto

Similar Artists:

Link Chamberlain, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Bill Evans

Influences:

Howard Roberts, Jimmy Raney, Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian

Followers:

Jesse Van Ruller, Issi Rozen, Lou Volpe, Bob Rose, Jay Leonhart, Charlie Hunter, Bill Frisell, Attila Zoller, Ryo Kawasaki, Rene Gustafsson, Kazumi Watanabe, John Scofield, Jack Jezzro, Ed Bickert, John Abercrombie

A Member of the Group:

Dukes of Dixieland

Performed Songs By:

Dick Gasparre, Richard Bard, George Fragos, Jack Baker, Victor Young, Arthur Schwartz, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Johnny Mandel, Edward Heyman, Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Howard Dietz, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, George Shearing, Sonny Rollins, Pat Metheny, John Lewis, Paul Desmond, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin

Worked With:

Creed Taylor, Clark Terry, Connie Kay, Stan Getz, Ron Carter, Bob Brookmeyer

Hallmarks: The Best of Jim Hall Buy this CD	Duologues Buy this CD	Magic Meeting Buy this CD	Storyteller: Circles/All Across the City Buy this CD	Down Beat Critics' Choice Buy this CD
Jim Hall & Basses Buy this CD	Ballad Essentials Buy this CD	Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar, Cambridge Massachusetts Buy this CD	A Life in Progress Buy this CD	Jazzpar Quartet + 4 Buy this CD

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