The first time I heard Jim Hall play was when I was in college and I was trying to learn how to play Paul Desmond's Take Five and some other assorted songs from his time with Dave Brubeck.
I was just starting to listen to jazz at that time because I grew up a rocker and I stumbled onto a recording of Paul Desmond playing with Jim Hall and I had never heard a quartet play without a piano before. The record was Take Ten and I was hooked. Not only was Paul Desmond fabulous, but Jim Hall's accompaniment was simply luscious. His sound was so velvety that it mesmerized me.
Jim Hall, a jazz guitarist who for more than 50 years was admired by critics, aficionados and especially his fellow musicians for his impeccable technique and the warmth and subtlety of his playing, died on Tuesday at his home in Greenwich Village. He was 83.
The cause was heart failure, his wife, Jane, said.The list of important musicians with whom Mr. Hall worked was enough to earn him a place in jazz history. It includes the pianist Bill Evans, with whom he recorded two acclaimed duet albums, and the singer Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Paul Desmond, the drummer Chico Hamilton and the bassist Ron Carter, his frequent partner in a duo.But with his distinctive touch, his inviting sound and his finely developed sense of melody, Mr. Hall made it clear early in his career that he was an important musician in his own right.He was an influential one as well. Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and John Scofield are among the numerous younger guitarists who acknowledge him as an inspiration. Mr. Hall, who never stopped being open to new ideas and new challenges, worked at various times with all three.
In the below clip I found the version of Take Ten and I hope you enjoy it too.
Jim Hall will be missed, but his legacy will live on.
