Al Daniels

I was first exposed to jazz as a freshman Piano Major at San Francisco State. John Handy had just been hired to head the Jazz Department there. His first hand knowledge of many legends of Jazz was a History of Jazz, and he presented that with each class we attended. In addition, though he was not a pianist, his skill at the piano was about equal to his excellence on Alto Sax. I learned quite a bit from him about chord voicing, and comping behind soloists. He stands out as an icon, especially today for leading the way to what has become Jazz History.