Hal McKusick

Hal McKusick, an adept cool-toned alto saxophonist who also played clarinet on occasion, performed with the orchestras of Les Brown, Woody Herman in 1943, Boyd Raeburn from 1944 to 1945, Alvino Rey in 1946, Buddy Rich, and Claude Thornhill between 1948 and 1949. In the 1950s he kept a full calendar as a flexible studio player while also collaborating with Terry Gibbs and Elliot Lawrence. From 1955 to 1958 he issued nine albums under his own name on Jubilee, Bethlehem, Victor, Coral, New Jazz, Prestige, and Decca. Although these small-group dates stayed rooted in cool bop, they periodically incorporated forward-looking charts by George Handy, Manny Albam, Gil Evans, Al Cohn, Jimmy Giuffre, and especially George Russell. Hal McKusick died in April 2012 at the age of 87.