Hal Stein

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Hal Stein (born Harold Jerome Stein on September 5, 1928 in Weehawken, N.J.) was an American jazz musician and Bebop saxophone virtuoso. He died of lung cancer on April 27, 2008 at his home in Oakland, CA, at the age of 79.

Stein began performing on the tenor saxophone in the early 1940's in New York City. As a teen he frequently sat in with Don Byas and Erroll Garner at The Three Deuces on 52nd Street. In 1945 he was featured in concert with pianist Teddy Wilson at Town Hall (while still a high school student) on the same bill with Byas, Stuff Smith, and Charlie Parker. During the same year, Stein recorded with Doc Pomus, Tab Smith and Leonard Feather.

Having studied at Juilliard during 1950–51 Stein went on to work with Gene Krupa, Buddy Morrow, Les Elgart, Artie Shaw, Charles Mingus, Rudy Williams, Roy Haynes, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Georgie Auld, Claude Thornhill, J. C. Heard and others. After a stint in the Army jazz band in Japan during the Korean War (1951-1953), he also played the alto saxophone and recorded with Al Cohn (1954), led his own session with Warren Fitzgerald (1955), "Word From Bird" with Teddy Charles Tentet (1956) and "Four Altos" with Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab and Gene Quill (1957), before returning to complete his Masters degree at Manhattan School of Music in 1960.

He married Shae Bevan in 1957, and had three children with her, Gregory (b. 1957), Jennie (b. 1959), and Naomi (b. 1968). He and Bevan were divorced in 1977; he did not remarry.

Stein embarked on a career as an educator and continued performing regularly, including stints with Benny Carter, Chick Corea, Sammy Davis Jr., Kenny Dorham, Kenny Drew, Elvin Jones, Louis Hayes, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, Joe Farrell, Nancy Wilson (singer), Jessica Williams, and Rob Schneiderman.

In the early 1970's he moved to the West Coast, and remained in the Oakland Bay Area in California until the time of his death. He lead his own quartet during the 70's and 80's, "Plank 'n Stein" featuring Al Plank on piano; later incarnations of his quartet were eponymous. He taught at Stanford University, Mills College, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco State University, as well as privately. During the late 70's and early '80's he taught in Jamey Aebersold workshops around the world. In the late 80's and early '90's he made numerous trips to Europe, playing in France, Germany, and Italy.

"Spirit!" (his first recording as a leader since 1955) was released in 2006 and featured his working ensemble of pianist Lee Bloom, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Danny Spencer.

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