Dave U. Hall

Dave U. Hall
BornNew York City, United States
OccupationMusician, Teacher
NationalityAmerican
Website
www.daveuhall.com

Dave U. Hall is an American musician whose musical voice is articulated by the tones of his electric bass guitar. He was a member of the band Birdland with Lester Bangs. He has also played with other bands (and artists) including, but not limited to Zymosis, The Makers, Luigi & the Wiseguys, Danny Russo Blues Band, Remod (with Richie Ramone), Jeff Salen, Tiger Beats, Tina Peel,[1] Alan Merrill, Joey Ramone, and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. By the end of the punk era, Hall had a reputation for being a session and performance player for many bands.

Biography

Dave U. Hall's formal music training began during his Forest Hills High School years. While attending school and playing concerts (in addition to playing along to his numerous album collection), Hall studied upright bass, electric bass and flute with studio musicians in the New York City area. He studied flute with Seymour "Red" Press.[2] His bass teachers included Rick Laird, Clyde Lombardi, Richard Davis and Jay Leonhart.

After graduating from High School, Hall was accepted into the Berklee College of Music. Because of his ability to read music, he was placed in advanced sight-reading ensemble laboratories. Hall also studied bass privately at Berklee with Richard Appleman (chairman) and Steve Swallow. Because of Swallow's intense performing schedule with the Gary Burton Group, Hall was given Swallow's bass classes to teach when Swallow had band and teaching conflicts.

Hall went on from Berklee to play with the jazz/rock group Zymosis. The band played the New York City club circuit. Because of their gig affiliation with Max's, the band was included in the Max's Kansas City book entitled, Art, Glamour, Rock and Roll.[3] They were also written about in the British magazine publication Melody Maker by reviewer Steve Lake. Lake dubbed the group the "punk jazz" band of that time[4].[5]

After leaving the band, Hall studied (and received a degree in) music education at Queens College. During this time, Hall was so intrigued by the punk rock scene, that he somehow wanted to infuse his classical/jazz background into punk music. Hall started playing with many punk rock bands which eventually led him joining Birdland with Lester Bangs. However, after leaving Birdland to focus on his studies, Hall forged on and continued playing the circuit with other well known punk bands in the New York City area. Hall used this opportunity as a learning tool to incorporate his talent into a multitude of different styles and genres. Soon thereafter, Hall joined The Rattlers. Hall toured with them and played on their Rattled album.[6] Hall co-wrote the song "I Won't Be Your Victim" that eventually was picked as a single, and for which a video was shot. Rattled was well received by the music industry including writers such as Robert Christgau (writer for the Village Voice).[7]

Hall's solo CD has been played on radio stations including Sirius Radio's Little Steven's Underground Garages' Goldie's Garage show featuring Genya Ravan, WPKN's "Chris Frantz The Talking Head" show featuring Chris Frantz and Vorterix Radio, as well as streaming stations such as ITunes,[8] YouTube,[9] Google Music and Spotify.

Seeing the limitations of individual artistic development in The Rattlers, Hall decided to leave the group to concentrate on his songwriting. Thus began the project known as the Walter MIDI Group. The idea eventually led to a conceptual band. Since its inception over the years however, it has culminated into Hall's first solo CD And Then You Woke Up!.[10] The album is an autobiographical account of his life's experiences.

In 2014, Hall played on Jiro Okabe's Return of the Kamikazi album. Players on that CD included Clem Burke, Elliot Easton, and C.J. Ramone among others.

Hall is a retired New York City public school teacher. He is also an Apple Computer consultant whose clients included the late Joey Ramone.[11] Hall is the father of two children.

Discography

Albums

  • 1985: The Rattlers – Rattled Jem Records (PVC Records)
  • 2011: Walter MIDI Group – And Then You Woke Up! (Beautiful Dreamer Records)
  • 2014: Jiro Okabe – Return of the Kamikazi (Mosrite Records)
  • 2023: Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies (Jem Records)
  • 2024: Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards (Jem Records)
  • 2024: The Cynz – Little Miss Lost (Jem Records)

References

  1. ^ "Tina Peel". Fuzztones.net. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  2. ^ "Meet the Encores! Orchestra: Seymour "Red" Press". April 7, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ Kasher, Steven (2010). Max's Kansas City : art, glamour, rock and roll. New York: Abrams Image. ISBN 978-0810995970.
  4. ^ Lake,Steve,Melody Maker,IPC Media, August 16th 1975
  5. ^ Lake, Steve (August 16, 1975). "Zymosis CBGB Festival". Melody Maker. 8 (8).
  6. ^ "Robert Christgau: CG: Rattlers". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (1990). Record Guide of the 80's. Pantheon Books. pp. 514. ISBN 067973015X.
  8. ^ "Walter MIDI Group on Apple Music". Retrieved July 23, 2025 – via Apple Music.
  9. ^ "Walter MIDI Group What People Do for Money". August 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2025 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ "Walter Midi Group". Waltermidigroup.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  11. ^ "Joey Ramone-Punk Pioneer". MacDirectory. Winter 2002 (12).

Other sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.