Al Haig, Piano, 1924, New York, NY
Al came to prominance in the mid '40s after his discharge from the Coast Guard. He was very active on the 52nd Street scene, playing in many of the clubs under many different leaders. He worked regularly all over North America from the '50s into the '70s. He made very few records and eventually became less and less involved in music. Al became active again with the bop revival that took place in the 1970s. He was again performing in clubs and starting to record with various leaders. Haig was one of the earliest pianists to blend the innovations of bop into a style that was strictly his own. His exceptional technique made him a fine accompanist to very diverse soloists. His association with Dizzy and Bird were the most significant of his career. Al Haig died in 1982.
Bill Perkins, Saxophone, 1924, San Francisco, CA
In addition to the sax, Bill played clarinet, and flute. He grew up in Chile and Santa Barbara, CA. Perkins earned an engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology before entering the navy in 1946. After the service he earned a degree in music from U C at Santa Barbara before starting his career as a professional musician. All through the '50s Perkins was active with many big bands such as Jerry Wald's, Woody Herman's and most significantly with Stan Kenton's. During this same period he also recorded with Richie Kamuca and Art Pepper. During most of the'60s, Bill worked mainly in the studios as a musician and recording engineer. In his early career Perkins favored a light style of playing, but his later work reflected the influence of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. In recent years he toured with the Mike Vax big band. Bill Perkins died in 2003.
Al DiMeola, Guitar, 1954, Jersey City, NJ
Al started on drums, but inspired by the Beatles, he switched to the guitar when he was nine years old. At fifteen he was playing country music on pedal and steel guitar. Formal training on the guitar was at the Berklee College of Music in 1971, but he left in the second semester to join a rock-jazz quartet led by Barry Miles. The group disbanded in in 1974 and Al returned to Berklee to study arranging, but again left before finishing to join Chick Corea's group, Return to Forever. Al left Corea in the mid '70s and recorded several highly acclaimed albums on the Columbia label. He also released two albums in a flamenco style as part of a group with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia (1982-83). In the early '80s Al had his own group with which he toured occasionally. The last album he cut for Columbia, "Scenario", included his first experiments with the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument, and was a collaboration with Jan Hammer. In 1985 he recorded a couple of albums of melodic music and the percussion playing of Airto Moreira. The effects were extremely effective and represented a new and completely different approach. Al was main influences were the classical guitarists, Julian Bream in particular , and also by Larry Coryell, who helped and encouraged him early in his career. He is equally at home with acoustic and electric guitars, and is a virtuoso on both.
