Hal Gaylor

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Harold Walden "Hal" Gaylor (born July 9, 1929 in Montréal ; † June 25, 2015 ) was a Canadian jazz musician ( bass , cello and bass guitar ) and composer .

Live and act

Gaylor played the clarinet in a high school band ; during his military service he was a member of the Royal Canadian Navy Band . He studied at the McGill Conservatory in Montréal and accompanied Charlie Parker in 1953 at a session in Montréal in a rhythm section with Dick Garcia , Valdo Williams and Bill Graham ("Ornithology" / "Cool Blues".) With Graham, he recorded in the same year for Discovery Records with. In 1958 he worked with Kai Winding . In 1955 he married the New York dancer Evelyn Benz with whom he went to New York City in 1956. There he worked in a trio with Paul Bley and Lennie McBrowne , with whom he went on tour to the Midwest and finally to Los Angeles. There he met the pianist Walter Norris , with whom he played in a trio with Billy Higgins , occasionally supplemented by Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry .

He then became known in the late 1950s in Chico Hamilton's band with Eric Dolphy , with whom he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 . During his time at Hamilton, he recorded for Decca with John Pisano and Billy Bean . In 1960 he left the Hamilton Band and returned to New York to work with Clark Terry and Billy May , Stan Getz and Bill Evans .

In 1961 he had the opportunity to record under his own name for Riverside Records as The Trio with pianist Walter Norris and Billy Bean. Hal Gaylor then accompanied vocalists such as Lena Horne , Mel Tormé , Anita O'Day and Dick Haymes on tours in the 60s ; from the early 1950s to the early 1970s he took part in around forty recording sessions, including working with Tony Bennett (1964), Ralph Sharon and Larry Coryell . At the end of the 60s he worked mainly as a studio musician in New York and played as a bass guitarist in fusion groups of Jeremy Steig , Mike Mainieri and Joe Beck . In 1972 he appeared in Benny Goodman's all-star sextet with Zoot Sims and Peter Appleyard in Germany. A hearing disorder in the right ear ended his music career and from then on he worked as a painter and physiotherapist.

As a composer he worked for Walter Norris and Dave Pike ; for Chico Hamilton he wrote the "Original Ellington Suite", which appeared on the Blue Note album of the same name .

Discographic notice

  • Hal Gaylor / Billy Bean / Walter Norris - The Trio (Riverside, 1961)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary in Bass Player
  2. ^ Jazzdisco.org Charlie Parker discography
  3. ^ Jazzdisco.org: Savoy Records 1953
personal data
SURNAME Gaylor, Hal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaylor, Harold Walden (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian jazz musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Montréal , Canada
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 2015