Harold Jerome Stein (September 5, 1928 in
Weehawken
Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197. , New Jersey – April 27, 2008 in
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, California) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
musician and bebop
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
player.
Stein began performing on the
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
in the early 1940s in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. As a teen he frequently sat in with
Don Byas
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also led ...
, whom he considered a mentor, and
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...
, at The Three Deuces on 52nd Street. In 1945 he was featured in concert with pianist
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of ma ...
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
Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song "If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper").
Smith was, alo ...
, and
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
. During the same year, Stein recorded with
Doc Pomus
Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall ...
,
Tab Smith
Talmadge "Tab" Smith (January 11, 1909 – August 17, 1971) was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist. He is best remembered for the tracks "Because of You" and "Pretend". He worked with Count Basie, the Mills Rhythm Boys a ...
and
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
. He went on to work with
Gene Krupa
Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, S ...
,
Buddy Morrow
Buddy Morrow (born Muni Zudekoff, aka Moe Zudekoff; February 8, 1919 – September 27, 2010) was an American trombonist and bandleader.
Career
On a scholarship at age 16, Morrow studied trombone with Ernest Horatio Clarke (1865–1947) at Juill ...
,
Les Elgart
Lester Elliott Elgart (August 3, 1917 – July 29, 1995) was an American swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter.
Early Years
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Elgart grew up in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey with his brother Larry. They were exposed to ...
,
Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction.
Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...
,
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...
,
Rudy Williams,
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz ...
,
Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld (May 19, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.
Early years
Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. Before the family left Canada, Auld ...
,
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You".
Early years
Thornhill was the son of J. Chester Thornhill ...
,
J. C. Heard
James Charles Heard (August 10, 1917 – September 27, 1988) was an American swing, bop, and blues drummer.
Biography
Heard was born in Dayton, Ohio and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a young child, he performed as a tap dancer in a ...
and others. He also played the
alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...
, recording on it with
Al Cohn
Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist Zo ...
on ''
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
'' (1954), in his own session with Warren Fitzgerald,
Bob Dorough,
Paul Motian
Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties.
He first came to prominence in the l ...
and Alphonso Cotton (1955), on ''
The Teddy Charles Tentet
''The Teddy Charles Tentet'' is a 1956 jazz album featuring a tentet led by multi-instrumentalist Teddy Charles. Critically well received, the album is listed as one of the "Core Collection" albums in ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' and an essential ...
'' album (1956), and as one of the ''
Four Altos
''Four Altos'' is an album by saxophonists Phil Woods Gene Quill, Sahib Shihab and Hal Stein recorded in 1957 and released on the Prestige label. '' with Juilliard buddy
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
Biography
Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...
,
Sahib Shihab
Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tad ...
and
Gene Quill
Daniel Eugene Quill (December 15, 1927 – December 8, 1988) was an American jazz alto saxophonist who played often with Phil Woods in the duet Phil and Quill. Quill also worked as a sideman for Buddy DeFranco, Quincy Jones, Gene Krupa, Gerry M ...
(1957). The record made with Fitzgerald was reissued decades later after becoming something of a cult classic in Japan.
He studied at
Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
during 1950-51. During his stint in the Army jazz band in Japan during the Korean War (1951–1953), he was a regular member of
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese–American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader.
Akiyoshi received fourteen Grammy Award nominations and was the first woman to win Best Arranger and Composer awards in ''Down Beat'' magazine's annual Readers' Poll. ...
's quartet. When he decided to go back to college in the late-1950s he realized that the GI bill would not cover the cost of completing his degree at Juilliard, so he switched to
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
, where he achieved his master's degree in 1960. Stein embarked on a career as an educator, while continuing to perform regularly. During the 1960s he taught in public schools in New York and California. Starting in the 1970s, he taught at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
,
University of California at San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It condu ...
and
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
, as well as privately. During the late-1970s and early-1980s he taught in
Jamey Aebersold
Wilton Jameson "Jamey" Aebersold (born July 21, 1939) is an American publisher, educator, and jazz saxophonist. His Play-A-Long series of instructional books and CDs, using the chord-scale system, the first of which was released in 1967, are an i ...
workshops around the world.
During the mid-1960s he moved back and forth between the East and West Coasts. In 1968 he moved out West for good, living first in Las Vegas, then in Seattle, and finally settling in the Bay Area in California in 1971, where he remained for the rest of his life. Some of the musicians he played with in this period include
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...
,
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...
,
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
,
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public ...
,
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
,
Kenny Drew
Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American-Danish jazz pianist.
Biography
Drew was born in New York City, United States, and received piano lessons from the age of five.Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler (2 ...
,
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era.
Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...
,
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He i ...
,
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
,
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...
,
Joe Farrell
Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...
,
Nancy Wilson,
Jessica Williams, and Rob Schneiderman. He led his own quartet during the 1970s and 1980s, Plank 'n Stein, featuring Al Plank on piano; later incarnations of his quartet were eponymous. In the late-1980s and early-1990s he made several solo tours of Europe, playing in France, Germany, and Italy; his daughter, singer Jennie Stein, joined him for one tour in Italy, and as a guest artist with him on a recording made there, ''Doctor in Jazz'' (1991).
''Spirit!'' (his first recording as a leader since 1955) was recorded and released in 2006, featuring his working ensemble of pianist Lee Bloom, bassist John Wiitala and drummer
Danny Spencer
Danny Spencer is the former guitarist for Australian band Rogue Traders, taking over from previous guitarist Tim Henwood, who left in order to concentrate on his band the Androids in 2007, with Rogue Traders frontman James Ash stating that "Ti ...
.
Personal life
Born to
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents, his father, Ralph Stein, was born Raphael Eisenstein in Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia) in 1898; his surname was shortened to Stein at some point during his youth after emigrating to the U.S. His mother, Jeanette Weiss, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, was born in New York City in 1903. He had one sibling, a sister named Marilyn, two years his junior. He married singer Shae Bevan in 1957; they divorced in 1978, and he did not remarry. They had three children: Greg (b. 1957), Jennie (b. 1959), and Naomi (b. 1968). All three have followed in his footsteps as artists and educators in their respective fields. He had three grandchildren.
He was still active teaching and performing until just a few months before his death from lung cancer at age 79.
Discography
As bandleader
*''Hal Stein-Warren Fitzgerald Quintet'' (Progressive, 1955)
*''Spirit!'' (GuideTone Media, 2006)
With
Teddy Charles
Teddy Charles (April 13, 1928 – April 16, 2012) was an American jazz musician and composer, whose instruments were the vibraphone, piano, and drums.
Career
Born Theodore Charles Cohen in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, United States, he s ...
*''
The Teddy Charles Tentet
''The Teddy Charles Tentet'' is a 1956 jazz album featuring a tentet led by multi-instrumentalist Teddy Charles. Critically well received, the album is listed as one of the "Core Collection" albums in ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' and an essential ...
'' (Atlantic, 1956)
*''
Word from Bird
''Word from Bird'' is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Teddy Charles released on the Atlantic label in 1957.Cohen, N.The Teddy Charles Discographyaccessed September 8, 2015
Reception
Allmusic calls the album "enjoyable".
Track listing
'' ...
'' (Atlantic, 1957)
With
Al Cohn
Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist Zo ...
*''Broadway'' (Progressive, 1954)
With Giorgio Diaferia
*''Doctor in Jazz'' (Splasc(H) Records, 1991)
With
Tab Smith
Talmadge "Tab" Smith (January 11, 1909 – August 17, 1971) was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist. He is best remembered for the tracks "Because of You" and "Pretend". He worked with Count Basie, the Mills Rhythm Boys a ...
,
Doc Pomus
Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall ...
and
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
*''Blues in the Red'' (1945)
With
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
Biography
Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...
,
Gene Quill
Daniel Eugene Quill (December 15, 1927 – December 8, 1988) was an American jazz alto saxophonist who played often with Phil Woods in the duet Phil and Quill. Quill also worked as a sideman for Buddy DeFranco, Quincy Jones, Gene Krupa, Gerry M ...
and
Sahib Shihab
Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tad ...
*''
Four Altos
''Four Altos'' is an album by saxophonists Phil Woods Gene Quill, Sahib Shihab and Hal Stein recorded in 1957 and released on the Prestige label. '' (Prestige, 1957)
References
*''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' by Leonard Feather, Ira Gitler
Obituary from the SF Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Hal
1928 births
2008 deaths
American jazz saxophonists
American male saxophonists
Jewish American musicians
Bebop saxophonists
Stanford University faculty
Juilliard School alumni
Manhattan School of Music alumni
Jewish jazz musicians
20th-century American saxophonists
University of California, San Francisco faculty
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews