Al Haig: Difference between revisions

Haig was born in [[Newark, New Jersey]], and raised in nearby [[Nutley, New Jersey|Nutley]].<ref>[[Marc Myers|Myers, Marc]]. [https://www.jazzwax.com/2019/10/al-haig-plays-jerome-kern.html "Al Haig Plays Jerome Kern"], JazzWax, October 16, 2019. Accessed November 9, 2019. "Born in Newark, N.J., Haig was raised in Nutley, N.J."</ref> In 1940, he majored in piano at Oberlin College.<ref name="Case">{{cite journal |last=Case |first=Brian |date=October 1982 |title=Jazz Pianists – 6 Al Haig |journal=Music & Musicians |page=10}}</ref> He startstarted performing with [[Dizzy Gillespie]] and [[Charlie Parker]] in 1945,<ref name="Scott">{{cite book |first=Scott |last=DeVeaux |title=The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History |page=428 |year=1999 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0520216655}}</ref> and performed and recorded under Gillespie from 1945 to 1946, as a member of [[Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis|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.<ref name="Scott" /> He was part of the [[nonet (music)|nonet]] on the first session of [[Miles Davis]]' ''[[Birth of the Cool]]''.

In 1969, Haig was acquitted of a murder charge. He had been accused of strangling his third wife, Bonnie, at their home in [[Clifton, New Jersey]], on October 9, 1968. He had said in evidence that his wife had been drunk, and had died in a fall down a flight of stairs.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Down Beat]] |title=Al Haig Acquitted Of Wife-Murder Charge |volume=36 |number=16 |date=7 August 1969 |issn=0012-5768}}</ref> Grange Rutan, Haig's second wife, challenged Haig's account in her 2007 book, ''Death of a Bebop Wife''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Death of a Bebop Wife |first=Grange (Lady Haig) |last=Rutan |location=Redwood, New York |publisher=Cadence Jazz Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1881993421}}</ref> Rutan's book is partly autobiographical, partly based on interviews with friends and family members. She describes Bonnie's story in detail, describingdepicting an underside to Haig that included a history of serial domestic abuse. Rutan observed that several family members sounded alarm bells regarding Haig's violent personality that went unheeded. She quotes bassist Hal Gaylor, who was talking with Haig before a performance at the Edison Hotel lounge in the early seventies, when Haig admitted to him he had caused Bonnie's death.

Haig died from a heart attack on November 16, 1982, and was survived by his wife Joanne and his sons Alan and Daniel.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/17/obituaries/al-haig-58-dead-early-pop-pianist.html |title=Al Haig, 58, Dead; Early Bop Pianist |first=C. Gerald |last=Fraser |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 November 1982}}</ref>

|1976?

|''OrnithologyI Love you''

|Trio, with [[Jamil Nasser]] (bass), [[FrankJimmy GantWormworth]] (drums)

|-

|1978?

|Some tracks duo, with [[Jamil Nasser]] (bass); some tracks solo; one track duo, with [[Helen Merrill]]

|Quartet, with [[Art Themen]] (tenor sax), [[Jamil Nasser]] (bass), Tony MartinMann (drums)

*{{AllmusicAllMusic |class=artist |id=al-haig-mn0000604469}}

[[Category:Musicians from Newark, New Jersey]]

[[Category:AmericanMusicians malefrom jazzPassaic musiciansCounty, New Jersey]]