Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hall Franklin Overton was born February 23, 1920 in Bangor, Michigan but grew up in Grand Rapids. As a youngster he found that his few piano lessons were not enough to discover that elusive “something” he was seeking in music. His high school music teacher urged him to study theory and composition at The Chicago Musical College, prior to military service. It was during this overseas duty that he learned to play jazz.

Following his discharge Hall attended the Julliard School of Music, graduated with a Masters and joined the faculty. As an educator he would eventually teach at Yale School of Music and The New School of Social Research. He would receive awards from both The Koussevitzky Foundation and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

In 1954, his New York City loft at 821 Sixth Avenue, aka the Jazz Loft, provided the perfect setting for the musicians to practice. While composing his classical compositions, he was also deeply immersed in jazz, recording with Stan Getz, Duke Jordan, Jimmy Raney, and Teddy Charles. Thelonious Monk selected him to score his piano works for full orchestra and on February 28, 1959, Thelonious Monk Orchestra At Town Hall was recorded live. Monk later released another live album of Hall’s compositions on Big Band and Quartet in Concert.

Hall’s opera, Huckleberry Finn, commissioned by the Barney Jaffin Foundation, was presented by The Juilliard Opera Company just months before his death on November 24, 1972 from cirrhosis of the liver. Pianist, composer and educator Hall Overton was just 52.

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