ProJazz.net

“Alan Warren Haig (July 19, 1922 – November 16, 1982) was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop.

Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey. In 1940 he majored in piano at Oberlin College. He started playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in 1945, and performed and recorded under Gillespie from 1945 to 1946, as a member of Eddie Davis and His Beboppers in 1946 (also featuring Fats Navarro), and the Eddie Davis Quintet in 1947, under Parker from 1948 to 1950, and under Stan Getz from 1949 to 1951. The Gillespie quintet, which included Haig, recorded four 78 r.p.m. sides for Guild Records in May 1945 which are regarded as the first recordings to demonstrate all elements of the mature bebop style. He was part of the celebrated nonet on the first session of Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool.

For much of the 1950s and 1960s, “Haig was all but a forgotten giant”, in Brian Case’s words; “Jazz pianism, ever more percussive in a crass simplification of [Bud] Powell’s methods, had no room for the crystalline touch and swift, logical turnover of ideas. Haig got by with semi-cocktail piano in New York bars.” Although Haig is best remembered for playing bebop, he spent much of his career playing in non-jazz contexts. His work was the subject of a revival in the 1970s.” – Wikipedia.

Track listing:

00:00 1 Sweet Lorraine (Burwell-Parish)
03:00 2 Tea For Two (Youmans-Caesar)
05:34 3 You Go To My Head (Coots-Gilespie)
10:21 4 You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Brown-Kahn)
13:05 5 Undecided (Shavers-Robin)
14:59 6 The Man I Love (G. & I. Gershwin)
19:48 7 Woodyn’ You (Gillespie)
22:08 8 Stella By Starlight (Young-Washington)
24:56 9 Someone To Watch Over Me (G. & I. Gershwin)

Personnel:

Teddy Kotick – bass
Phil Brown – drums
Benny Weeks – guitar
Al Haig – piano

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Label: Period Records ‎/ Fresh Sound Records / TP4 Music
Released: 1954 / 1991 / 2005

Recorded: New York City, on September 13, 1954