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Tom Hall
Tom Hall is a Boston based improvising saxophonist and educator and author of, "Free Improvisation: A Practical Guide"
About Me
Tom Hall (baritone & tenor saxophones & music educator) has been an
active professional musician since his teens when he played a weekly
gig at the Ebony Inn with Ohio Hung Jury, a Washington, DC funk band.
He moved to Boston in 1976 to attend New England Conservatory,
where he studied with Joe Allard, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Guiffre, George
Russell, and Ernie Wilkins.
It was during these years he first studied free improvisation. He was the
co-founder of Ensemble Garuda, whose members included
percussionist Sam Bennett, trumpeter Frank London, and Brazilian
cellist Jaques Morelenbaum. This group met for years, with the sole
purpose of an intensive exploration of improvisation.
In 1979, shortly before graduation from NEC, he co-founded Your
Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet (1979-1997) with Steve Adams, Allan
Chase, and Circe Miller (other members of the group over the years
included Ben Schachter, Joel Springer, Douglas Yates and Bob Zung).
Over the next 18 years, Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet toured
the United States and Europe and recorded five CDs. In addition to
playing at every conceivable venue in New England, YNSQ also
appeared at The Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Bang on the Can Festival
(NY, NY), and the Moers Music Festival (Germany), among others.
During the 1980's, along with his work with YNSQ, he recorded and
toured with many original groups, playing very different styles of music.
Hall toured the world and recorded with Volo-Volo (1980-1987), a
popular Haitian band, as well as playing in many of the New England
area’s finest Latin orchestras. He was a longstanding member of Mark
Harvey's avante-garde big band Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. He led and
fronted his own rap group (1988), walked the bar in blues bands,
performed with the Bentmen and recorded with avante-garde rockers
Birdsongs of the Mezesoic, and singer-songwriter Geoff Bartley.
In the 1990's, Hall continued playing, touring, and recording in a variety
of musical styles. He was a member of Bob Nieske's jazz quintet, Wolf
Soup (1992-1999), and played with blues/jazz keyboardist Bruce Katz in
the Bruce Katz Band (1994-1999). During this time, he also played and
recorded with singer-songwriter April Hall, was a member of The Jane
Gang (country swing) and Soul Kitchen (classic R&B), recorded with
R&B giant Mighty Sam McLain, and was the arranger and horn section
leader on CD’s by rocker Dennis Brennan. (Discography)
In 1997, Hall developed a course on free improvisation for Brandeis
University, and has been teaching and directing the Brandeis
Improvisation Collective ever since, as well as being the saxophone
instructor for Brandeis University. He has also conducted Master
Classes at New England Conservatory (Boston, MA), and at the Royal
Conservatory and Rotterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands.
Since 1999, he has been a frequent contributor to Club d'Elf, a dub-
trance-groove group led by bassist Mike Rivard, whose rotating cast
includes John Medeski, DJ Logic, Mat Maneri, Duke Levine, Reeves
Gabrels, Joe Maneri, Dave Tronzo, Kenwood Dennard, and Brahim
Fribgane, and appears on several live CDs.
In 2001, he designed and led Session I, a workshop for professional
improvisers, culminating in a series of concerts in the New England
area, with participating musicians Brian Carpenter, Ken Field, Jeff Song,
Jane Wong, Alec Redfearn, Grant Smith and David Tronzo. In 2002 he
led Session II, a workshop designed to study groove related
improvisation. From 2002-2005, Tom was a curator for the Cultural
Construction Music Series.
In addition to his ongoing teaching and group performances, he currently
produces “The Sessions” an improvised music series that brings
together musicians from all styles of music and turns them loose in a
free improvisatory setting and is the author of, “Free Improvisation: A
Practical Guide”.