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Devra, Thank you for taking the time to catch us up.
I'm sure you have heard a great many stories about your father and what he meant to musicians.
That said, here's mine.
I believe I first heard your father on Mort Fega's all night jazz program on FM radio in NYC around 1965.
I don't remember how I decided to buy it, but I got Glad to Be Unhappy. Back then, albums were about $3.50 and minimum wage was around $1.15, so that album was a lot of money!
I'd play it every day when I got home from High School, often falling peacefully asleep.
I copied some of the guitar licks -- and still use them.
I met Jim Hall, only once, in the tiny Men's Room at the Keystone Korner, which was not an appropriate place for me to tell him how I felt about him <g>.
I discovered, more recently, that he had many other albums with Paul Desmond and I got them all. Also, a new, CD copy of Glad to Be Unhappy. I still have the vinyl, but no record player.
He's my biggest influence as a musician. Nobody has ever matched the beauty of his comping.
He meant a lot to a lot of people. What more can a musician ask of his art?
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12-11-2017 09:44 PM
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I hope I didn't break any forum rules when I let my mother read this thread. She is here in CA visiting me for the holidays. Here is her message to you:
Hi All,
This is Jane, and it's so nice to hear you all remember and talk about Jim. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death - such a sad day for me, so this cheered me up.
Jim was the best person I ever knew - in every way. The album you’re talking about was made on a trip to Europe in 1969. It was the first time Jim recorded one of my songs, It’s Nice to Be With You. That was a thrill. I got sick with a horrible cold so Debbie subbed for me on the cover. Just as well. So pretty! Her friend Daisy came with us and it was great fun visiting Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Stockholm. I planned the whole trip by letter and telephone. No email or even internet in those days.
Anyway, nice to say hi to you all.
Best,
Jane
Jane Hall
janehallpsychotherapy.com
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She didn't mention that the flight she booked from Amsterdam to Berlin was on Polish Airlines and landed in East Berlin. We got there and waited and waited for baggage -- no guitar or amplifier. (Amp was old style with tubes). Finally they tracked it down in some other building on the airport grounds. Passengers going to West Berlin (including us) boarded an airport bus that thankfully detoured to pick up the missing pieces before crossing Check Point Charlie (terrifying, soldiers with bayonet rifles came on the bus to check passports) and depositing us on the other side.
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This must now be one of the best threads on this forum! Great to hear from both of you. Jim is much missed, and not just by us. Best wishes for the future.
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checkpoint charlie and the Berlin wall...very uncomfortable..could have been so different...god bless all the men and women who achieved it..
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Devra and Jane,
So nice to see you on this forum. I was lucky enough to spend some time with Jim, and one of the main reasons I show up here is the responsibility I feel to pass along the mentorship he generously provided me.
Usually I'm sharing the musical 'nuts and bolts' (Spend some time playing up and down one string....), but here's a more personal anecdote. For a good chunk of the '90's, I was living out in Chicago. Jim would be through often, and he'd graciously let me lend him a backup amp or spare cable, and we'd spend the afternoon at the Blackstone playing through some tunes. Over those years, every time I'd run across Peter Bernstein, he'd ask "How's Jim?" "What's new with Jim?" Always a bit puzzled, I finally said "You both live in NYC, I'm sure you see him a lot more than I do..." to which he replied "You have to catch Jim on the road, otherwise you can't get him to hang out. When he's home in New York, he's with his family...."
Here's a performance of "Body and Soul" that George Mraz and I dedicated to Jim at the 2014 Inntoene Jazz Festival.
Best wishes and Happy Holidays to all,
PK
Welcome to PaulKogut.com
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It is moving to witness the immediate family of Jim Hall chiming in here, a wonderful gesture!
Once Mrs. Jane Hall noted that Jim was very much against marriage - before he happened to meet her - (http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.de/2014/02/jim-hall-unalloyed-beauty.html ), which speaks volumes about Jane's gentleness and intelligence.
Jim was a regular participant in rough and funky (though creative) places like W. Eugene Smith's jazz loft. The positive influence of his loving family on his later recordings is unmistakable.
It is even more touching to see Jim sharing a German "Bockwurst" with his daughter on that LP cover. No idea what Sigmund Freud might have thought of the Bockwurst - in Germany it has traditionally been one sort of roasted sausage eaten to hold one's bock beer. The GDR is history by now, though few of it's former demons could still like to roam about. Boundaries can be overcome!
Thanks for sharing family and personal anecdotes, the memory of Jim Hall! Although it would hardly be possible to further increase Jim's legacy as a musician, arranger, composer, and as a wonderful human being, at least not in Germany.
We could take more into account the influence and importance of a loving family, the songwriting of Jane. From my own lowliest attempts to accompany my live-in girlfriend and singer on the guitar I do know how satisfying and rewarding such an activity can be.
Mrs. Devra Hall Levy said "Jim would like to be most known as a forward-seeker. He was always looking to push musical boundaries and never wanting to repeat something that he had done before. That made him quite a risk-taker".
This can hardly be better expressed in words.
True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new... The true delight is the delight in others.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Well hasn't this thread just become the coolest thing ever?
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For me, the stuff of dreams
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Jim Hall was funny too:
Memorable Meetings: Jim HallBy Joe Alterman, 11/21/2010I was crossing 5th avenue at 12th street the other day when I noticed an old man walking his dog very slowly, hunched over quite a bit. As I got closer, I noticed that that man was jazz guitar great Jim Hall.
He was stopped for a moment, so I walked over and said hey. We ended up talking for quite a while and were having a nice conversation (he introduced my to his dog, Django), joking around a bit. He asked me if I'd like to see something funny.
We were standing very near to the New School University's Jazz Building and we saw a student with a bass coming towards us.
Jim looked at me and said, "I've had spine troubles recently - people don't really recognize me anymore."
He laughed, went up to the bass player and asked, "Excuse me - Is that a walking bass?"
The kid gave him a dirty look and continued on his way. Jim looked at me and we both started laughing. Through his laughter, he said, "I always do that. I think it's pretty funny. They just think I'm the dirty old man now, haha."
He was such a pleasant guy and it was such a joy to spend a few moments with him, one of my heroes.
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Devra,
Nice to hear from you and your mom. I saw your dad perform many times at the Village Vanguard and in more recent years at the Kuumbwa jazz center. He remains one of the legends of jazz guitar and his music is an important part of the mosaic of American culture.
He has many, many fans on this forum and I think it is very cool that you have been part of his recorded work, both is the song title and the album cover. I'll leave the Freudian stuff for your mom. I try not to judge the past through the lens of today and would hope that others would see the folly in doing so.
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Wow, this IS special! FWIW, I always suspected that that was a daughter of some sort on the album cover, good to have confirmation and to hear more about your life and family, Devra!
I have loved your father's music since I was 20 and I'm your age, so it feels like a long mentorship. I finally met him at a summer guitar workshop around 2002 or 2003... your mother and Django accompanied him to Connecticut and sat patiently in the audience while Jim spoke, played, joked, and finally met everyone in line with a question or in need of an autograph. I stood next to your mother for a few minutes and chatted. It was such a relief to know that someone I admired so much had a stable life offstage, with an intelligent and loving woman who could understand his importance to other players and fans.
When it came time for my autograph, I was starstruck, not knowing what to say to my hero, so I jokingly asked Jim to sign my book as "Sean Connery", since he looked like him by then, and my wife has no idea who Jim is. He graciously complied and then told me that Andre Previn told him he looked like Connery, as well. A great memory for me.
Please let your mom know that I have always enjoyed her clear and sweet rendition of "When I Fall in Love" on your dad's Commitment album. Further confirmation of their obvious love and support for each other. I worry about my older heroes who didn't make wise choices as your father did, and now might find themselves facing disability and lack of support in their later years, having fought the battle to bring great music alive, but without the opportunity for a dignified passage at the ends of their lives, as Jim had. Your father was a rich man in so many ways, and so generous with his time, thoughts, experience and music and he deserved all of that richness, and more. What a great example you all have been! Thanks for reaching out to our community and best wishes to you and your mom!
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Devra Hall Levy -
Now that's what I call feedback! Brilliant. Thanks for being here.
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Strange setup, hope Jim didn’t suffer from vertigo!
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That's what happens when you develop your own style and it has an ephemeral quality in its appeal. People will put you on a pedestal.
David
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Was this still with a p90 on his 175 or a Guild-bucker? Love the tone.
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By way of comparison here’s a clip from 1964:
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in the op (on high) he's still using and touring with his old gibson ga50 amp...that and the 175 were his sound for well over a decade!!
cheers
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I’ve just ordered the ‘Vol 2-4’ of the famous ‘Jim Hall Live’ session, been meaning to get it for ages. Surprisingly the iTunes download is about the same price as getting the CDs from the U.S. including postage etc., so I went for the CDs.
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yes he is also using it in the 1964 clip, you can’t see it very well here, but it’s visible in the Jazz 625 Art Farmer video this clip comes from. Originally Posted by neatomic
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op clip is from same summer 1969 euro tour that jim cut the album -it's nice to be with you..(in berlin)
here's gatefold sleeve pic
here's jim in 73 still with es175 (with guild pup)
cheers
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Gibson GA-50. Also used by Jimmy Raney. Barney Kessel used one for a big chunk of his career. It's the amp on all those classic sessions he did for the Contemporary label (the Poll-Winners albums for example). Originally Posted by rabbit
Here's mine (a GA-50T as it has tremolo):
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I remember reading long ago how he had someone (Jimmy D’Aquisto maybe?) “overhaul” his 175 with a new fretboard and the Guild pickup both at the same time. This must have been during the three years where he took a sabbatical from gigging, except for the Merv Griffin show, in order to stay away from the booze. I think he ended that period with the ‘69 European tour and the subsequent album, “It’s Nice to Be With You” (recorded in Berlin). The photo from that album that Neatomic posted clearly shows the new fretboard. This was also the beginning of his wonderful “modern” period. The sabbatical gave him the opportunity to really woodshed and expand his already amazing harmonic vocabulary.
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No, it's a well known fact that Jim Hall had a 'God Complex' during that period. He'd set up on the balcony at gigs , and insist that people shower him with gifts after his performances. It took years of intensive psychotherapy from his wife (a psychotherapist) to get him back on the stage again, but he still expected gifts from you after each performance... Originally Posted by TruthHertz
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After the announcement of Hall's death, Rollins declared, I don't know anybody who didn't love him, including myself. He was the consummate musician, and it was a privilege to work with him."
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raney and hall used to share the same gibson ga 50!! for nyc sessions and dates... they were tight friends
jim hall said he liked it..not only for the sound, but cause it looked like an old radio!!!
on the 73 clip of hall, he still has the same (or a gibson style repro) pickguard...that was eventually replaced by one of jimmy d's carved wood deco style pickguards
this pic ^ from a good thread here abt the hall 175- Jim Hall's 175 up close!
cheers
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