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Jim Hall

Fresh Air Remembers Jazz Guitarist Jim Hall

Jim Hall performs at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

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Adam Kissick for NPR

Obituaries

Fresh Air Remembers Jazz Guitarist Jim Hall

Fresh Air

The guitarist, composer and arranger died in his sleep Tuesday at 83. Hall was known for a subtle, lyrical playing style, a gift for innovation and collaborations with a host of talented musicians in a career that stretched more than seven decades. Hear an interview from 1989.

Fresh Air Remembers Jazz Guitarist Jim Hall

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Remembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar God

Jim Hall performs with his trio and fellow guitarist Julian Lage at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

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Adam Kissick for NPR

A Blog Supreme

Remembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar God

The guitarist said he didn't "really have all that much technique anyway," but it was clearly enough to influence half a century of jazz musicians. Peers and proteges like Sonny Rollins, Julian Lage and John Scofield reflect on one of the finest ever on his instrument.

Remembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar God

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Jim Hall Trio With Julian Lage, Live In Concert

The Jim Hall Trio with Julian Lage performs at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival. Adam Kissick/NPR hide caption

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Newport Jazz Festival

Jim Hall Trio With Julian Lage, Live In Concert

WBGO

One of the finest guitarists in jazz history — who made classic records with Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Ron Carter and so on — is still at it at age 82. Hear him perform with a younger guitar phenom.

Jim Hall Trio With Julian Lage, Live In Concert

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Jazz For The Eyes And Ears: Bill Frisell And More

Guitarist Bill Frisell and his trio soundtracks Buster Keaton's Go West and two more films on a new DVD. Hulton Archive / Getty Images hide caption

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Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Review

Music Reviews

Jazz For The Eyes And Ears: Bill Frisell And More

Fresh Air

There's so much good jazz coming out on DVD now (old stuff, new stuff, TV concerts and documentaries) that it's more than anyone can follow. But Kevin Whitehead says that a few recent releases really caught his eye and ear.

Jazz For The Eyes And Ears: Bill Frisell And More

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Jim Hall: Guitar As Miniature Orchestra

Jim Hall performs at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

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Adam Kissick for NPR

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Jim Hall: Guitar As Miniature Orchestra

Hall is in a league of players who've turned the tables for jazz and their respective instruments. As far as modernizing the sound and vocabulary of jazz guitar to the degree he did, longtime admirer and fellow guitarist Rez Abbasi says Hall is unmatched. Abbasi picks five songs, each of which reveals Hall's idiosyncratic technique.

Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

Jim Hall and Bill Evans: 'Undercurrent'

Guitarist Jim Hall's career spanned five decades. A founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet (1955-1956), Hall later toured with Ella Fitzgerald and performed duos with Lee Konitz. In 1963, Hall joined with Bill Evans to record a classic piano/guitar duo session, Undercurrent.

Jim Hall and Bill Evans: 'Undercurrent'

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