Hal Stein was born in Weehawken , New Jersey, on September 5, 1928. Since he was eleven, the veteran saxophonist has lived and breathed music. At fifteen, Hal performed on tenor saxophone with Don Byas at New York's town Hall. The list of musicians and bands he has played with since the 1940's is truly phenomenal, and we are blessed to have such an accomplished, creative, and encyclopedic musician in our midst.

A brief listing of who he has performed with over the years will present an idea of the breadth of Hal's experience as a living musician:

Big Bands: Gene Krupa, Buddy Morrow, Joe Henderson Artie Shaw, Charlie Spivak, Benny Carter,Les and Larry Elgart, Vaughn Monroe, Claude Thornhill, Georgie Auld, Toshiko Akioshi, and Hampton Hawes.

Small Bands: Charlie Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Tony Scott,Teddy Charles, Roy Haynes ,Teddy Wilson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Kenny Dorham, Phil Woods, Elvin Jones , Kenny Drew, J.C. Heard, Joe Farrel, Trummy Young , Lenny McBrown Bill Evans, Henry Red Allen, Pete Brown,Chick Corea , Plank 'n' Stein, Graham Connah, Lavay Smith and the Red hot Skillet Lickers.

Stein also recorded with many of these groups, most notably "Four Altos" ( Gene Quill, Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab, and Stein: on Prestige), "word From Bird" ( The Teddy Charles Quintet, on Atlantic), and "Broadway "54" ( Al Cohn, on Prestige).

Hal Moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 and connected with the jazz scene here through performing and teaching. In the early 1970's, Stein was one of the first musicians presented by Loft Jazz, the precursor of Jazz In Flight. He also convinced Yoshi of Yoshi's Nitespot to give him a gig at the famous Japanese restaurant, thus beginning Yoshi's tenure as the premier East Bay jazz club.

Stein has taught at many colleges and universities in the area, and joined the music faculties at Mills College in 1978 and Stanford in 1985. He has toured Europe several times, most recently in 1991, and continues to play regularly in the Bay Area.

Affectionately called " Bull Moose" Stein by his friends, Hal is a warm, personable musician with a wealth of knowledge about and experience in America's classical music(i.e. "Jazz").