Hal Singer

Harold " Hal " Joseph Singer ( born October 8, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American jazz saxophonist of the swing and rhythm and blues.

Life and work

As a child, Hal Singer learned violin. Later he moved to the clarinet and finally to tenor saxophone. During his studies in the late 1930s he began his career in local bands in and around Oklahoma City, as in the Ernie Fields 1938 and Lloyd Hunter 1939. Afterwards he worked 1939/40 in Kansas City with Tommy Douglas. In 1943 he became a member of Jay McShanns Orchestra and moved to New York. After working with several other bands he played in 1947 in the band of Oran "Hot Lips" Page and worked as a session musician for the small record label King. During this time recordings with Roy Eldridge, Don Byas, Red Allen, Lucky Millinder, Sid Catlett and Duke Ellington created (1948 ).

In 1948 he left Page and formed its own formation. With the record label Mercury, he completed a record deal and recorded his first single on ( " Fine As Wine" ). On the B - side was the song " Rock Around the Clock ", which was later to become famous by Bill Haley. For the Savoy label with pianist Wynton Kelly, he took, inter alia, on the instrumental track " Corn Bread ", which reached # 1 on the 1948 Rhythm and Blues charts in September.

This gave Hal Singer its greatest popularity. He had until 1958 own formations in the rhythm and blues scene. A minor hit was " Beef Stew " in 1949. More well-known songs from Singer were "Midnight Jump", " Happy Days ", " Hot Bread ", "Loose reef ", " Swanee River " and "A Plug for Cliff".

In the early and mid 1950s, he took more plates at Mercury on, toured with several R & B artists such as the Orioles and Charles Brown and worked as a session musician. In 1958 he recorded an album for Prestige ( Blue Stompin ' ), which was also Charlie Shavers, Ray Bryant, Gus Johnson and Wendell Marshall participated. He also appeared at the Metropole Club in New York with jazz musicians such as Roy Eldridge and Coleman Hawkins.

After a tour with Earl " Fatha " Hines Singer remained in France in 1965 and settled near Paris. He continued to take plates on and toured through Europe and Africa, played with various bands, as with Eddie " Cleanhead " Vinson, T -Bone Walker, Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Watts, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Mojo Blues Band, in England with Mike Carr and the trio of John Cox, as well as in Germany Charly Antolini with. In 1990 he had a film role in Taxi Blues, in which he plays a jazz musician. In 1992 he received from the French Government, the award Chevalier des Arts. 1995 Singer was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Auswahldiskografie

  • Hal Singer 1948-1951 ( Classics )
  • Hal Singer - Charlie Shavers Quintet: Blue Stompin ' ( Prestige, OJC, 1959)
  • Don Byas: 1945 ( Classics )
  • Roy Eldridge: 1943-1944 ( Classics )
  • Lonnie Johnson Quintet: Blues by Lonnie Johnson (Original Blues Classics, 1960)
  • Eddie Cleanhead Vinson: Jammin 'the Blues ( Black Lion Records)
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