mick laBriola

James Stanley Hall (December 4, 1930 – December 10, 2013) was an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger.

In 1956, Hall moved to Los Angeles, where he studied classical guitar with Vicente Gómez. In 1955 and 1956, Hall played in Chico Hamilton‘s quintet, a group associated with the cool jazz movement, and Hall’s playing began to gain attention from critics and fellow musicians.

Hall left Hamilton’s group to join another cool jazz ensemble, the Jimmy Giuffre Three, and he worked on and off with Giuffre from 1957 to 1960. Hall recorded his first solo album for Pacific Jazz in 1957, though the album made only a modest impact, and Hall did not get to record a follow-up until 1969.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hall developed a preference for “challenging arrangements and interactive improvisation in duos and trios.” He taught at the Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts in the summer of 1959. Hall toured during the late 1950s with Jazz at the Philharmonic and worked around this time in Los Angeles with Ben Webster, appearing on Ben Webster at the Renaissance (recorded in 1960). During 1959, he recorded the first of six albums as a featured soloist with Paul Desmond. In 1960, Hall also toured and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald in Europe.

Hall moved to New York City around 1960 and began performing with band leaders including Lee Konitz (1960–61), Sonny Rollins(1961–62, 1964), and Art Farmer (1962–64). He formed a studio partnership with Bill Evans during this time, appearing on five albums with Evans from 1962 to 1966. Hall also worked as a studio guitarist for commercial recording dates during the early and mid-1960s. As a freelance studio musician, he appeared on albums by singers Big Joe Turner, Johnny Hartman, June Christy, Big Miller, and Freda Payne, as well as on commercially-oriented orchestral pop and jazz albums by Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Oliver Nelson, and Gary McFarland. His freelance jazz work in the 1960s covered a range of styles. He participated in cool jazz, bossa nova, and third stream albums led by John Lewis, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, and Paul Desmond. Hall recorded bebop and hard bop sessions with Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderley, and Sonny Rollins. He recorded a soul jazz session with Hammond organist Paul Bryant.

Clarence Joseph Ford, Sr. (December 16, 1929 – August 9, 1994) was an American saxophonist and clarinetist, who played and recorded with many of New Orleans’ leading R&B and jazz artists in a career spanning more than 40 years. Clarence Ford had his initial professional job at age 15 with the Eureka Brass Band in 1945 when he played E-flat clarinet at a Mardi Gras gig. He said in an interview that at the time he only knew three songs– “The Saints”, “Lady Be Good”, and “Panama”. In 1948 Ford joined Wallace Davenport’s Bebop Jockeys after switching to alto saxophone. He bought his first alto sax at Werlein’s for Music in New Orleans, and his idol was Charlie Parker. Ford joined the Johnson Brothers band in 1949. The Johnson brothers Ray and Plas, Jr. were from a musical family and had been professionals since they played their first gig at ages 13 and 12 years old respectively. Ford recorded for the first time on the Johnson Brothers’ De Luxe Records release “Mellow Mama” in August 1949. The session was supervised by De Luxe A&R man Paul Gayten, and, in addition to Ford, featured Harold Battisteon baritone sax, Lloyd Lambert on bass, Reynold Richards on piano, and Ed Blackwell on drums. Clarence Ford also worked as an orderly at Charity Hospital for $20 a week, in addition to his music dates, to support his wife and two children. The Johnson Brothers band broke up when Plas went on the road with Charles Brown’s band in 1951. Ford left New Orleans for Detroit to stay with his uncle Percy Gabriel. He got a job at the Ford Motor plant but was laid off after two months. When he returned to New Orleans he went to work recording with Dave Bartholomew, whose band included Bartholomew on trumpet, Earl Palmer on drums, Red Tyler, Clarence Hall and Meyer Kennedy on saxophones, Salvador Doucette on piano, and Frank Fields on bass. Ford played on recordings by Dave Bartholomew’s band, and other artists he produced. He worked a day job with Joe Jones at a New Orleans paper company. Ford worked with the Lloyd Lambert Orchestra, including a month-long stay at the Dew Drop Inn in May 1953. In 1954 he and friend trumpeter Dalton “Red” Rousseau were hired by manager Hosea Hill to play in Guitar Slim’s band. Ford was recruited as a baritone sax player and, since he did not own a baritone sax, borrowed one from friend Ellis Marsalis, who had switched to piano. On the road Slim rode ahead in his Cadillac, and the band rode behind with the equipment in a station wagon. Ford stayed with Guitar Slim until 1956, then returned home to New Orleans. He played around New Orleans, often sitting in at the Dew Drop Inn, playing tenor sax for $10 a night with Earl King on guitar and James Booker on piano. He worked days at the Dixie Beer brewery making $6 a day. Tenor sax man Herb Hardesty approached Ford in January 1957 about joining Fats Domino’s band. Ford came aboard to play baritone sax.

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week is NGC 1637, a spiral galaxy located 38 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus.

This image comes from an observing programme dedicated to studying star formation in nearby galaxies. Starsform in cold, dusty gas clouds that collapse under their own gravity. As young stars grow, they heat their nurseries through starlight, winds, and powerful outflows. Together, these factors play a role in controlling the rate at which future generations of stars form.

Evidence of star formation is scattered all around NGC 1637, if you know where to look. The galaxy’s spiral arms are dotted with what appear to be pink clouds, many of which are accompanied by bright blue stars. The pinkish colour comes from hydrogen atoms that have been excited by ultraviolet light from young, massive stars. This contrasts with the warm yellow glow of the galaxy’s centre, which is home to a densely packed collection of older, redder stars.

The stars that set their birthplaces aglow are comparatively short-lived, and many of these stars will explode as supernovae just a few million years after they’re born. In 1999, NGC 1637 played host to a supernova, pithily named SN 1999EM, that was lauded as the brightest supernova seen that year. When a massive star expires as a supernova, the explosion outshines its entire home galaxy for a short time. While a supernova marks the end of a star’s life, it can also jump start the formation of new stars by compressing nearby clouds of gas, beginning the stellar lifecycle anew.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy filling the view. Its disc is filled with bright red spots where stars are forming, dark reddish threads of dust that obscure light, and bluish glowing areas where older stars are concentrated. It has a large, glowing yellow oval area at the centre, from which two spiral arms wind through the galaxy’s disc. The bottom side of the disc is rounded while the top side is somewhat squared-off.