Al Haig
piano
Bebop pianist of the 1940s who worked with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, one of the pianists Barry’s generation heard as teenagers and whom Barry described as influenced by Bud Powell.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 3
- Barry speaking
- 2
What Barry says
Barry’s generation learned to play mostly by listening to Bud Powell, and a little from Al Haig, who was himself influenced by Bud.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle10:45
As teenagers in the 1940s, Barry and his friends heard Al Haig, Bud Powell and George Shearing rather than the stride players of the 1930s. That, he says, is why his generation are not the best of stride pianists.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶122Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶8
Haig is on Barry’s list of pianists, with Monk, Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Bill Evans, who did not play the way many young pianists do. Those young players, he says, cannot play two-handed chords and think the right hand is only for single notes; for Barry this is two-handed music.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶479Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶30
In a class on small and big chords, Barry names Haig with Tatum, Bud, Monk and Dave Brubeck as pianists who did not hold the left hand up high all the time. The hands should blend, with chords in both, and if those masters did not do it, neither should students.
Small chords, not big ones1:051:40Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶881
In his own words
we learned how to play by listening to Bud Powell. Mostly [Al Haig] a little bit, too, because [he] was influenced by Bud, too.
Whereas when we came up, when we became teenagers, we heard Al Haig, Bud Powell, George Shearing, all these cats accompanying…
Bud Powell didn’t play that way, Al Haig didn’t play that way, Bill Evans didn’t play that way. The pianists can’t play two-handed chords
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 10:45
Barry’s generation learned mostly from Bud, a little from Al Haig, who was influenced by Bud
Small chords, not big ones
- 1:40
Caption ‘Elh’: Haig among pianists who did not keep the left hand up high all the time
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York
- 30:14
Speaker unclear
Caption ‘Al Hey’: named among pianists on Columbia’s compilation LP I Remember Bebop, which includes Barry
In the interviews and notes
Barry says that as teenagers in the 1940s he and his friends heard Al Haig, Bud Powell and George Shearing accompanying, players slightly different from the stride pianists that Jaki Byard’s generation grew up on.
The DownBeat feature gives the same contrast: while Byard learned stride, Tatum and Earl Hines, Barry’s generation heard Haig, Bud and Shearing, which is why Barry says they are no stride players.
Asked why he does not like so many of the younger players, Barry says he cannot follow their logic or their lack of respect for older musicians; none of Monk, Tatum, Bud, Haig or Bill Evans played the way they do. In DownBeat he adds that this is two-handed music.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶479Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶30
De Lima’s transcript of the small-chords class has Barry name Al Haig, with Tatum, Bud, Monk and Dave Brubeck, as a pianist who did not hold the left hand up high; only Erroll Garner and Red Garland did.
Summing up Barry’s role models, de Lima lists Al Haig among the musicians who influenced him, along with Art Tatum, Sonny Stitt and George Shearing.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.