Memorable Meetings: Jim Hall

11/21/2010: I was crossing 5th avenue at 12th street the other day when I noticed an old man walking his dog very slowly, hunched over quite a bit. As I got closer, I noticed that that man was jazz guitar great Jim Hall. 

He was stopped for a moment, so I walked over and said hey. He was shocked that I recognized him, remarking, "I've had spine troubles recently and people don't really recognize me anymore.” We ended up talking for quite a while and were having a nice conversation (he introduced my to his dog, Django), joking around a bit. He then asked me if I'd like to see something funny, to which, I, of course, said yes.

So we walked a few blocks over to the New School’s jazz building and he went up to one of the jazz students wheeling his bass out of this building. He tapped the kid on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, is that a walking bass?” The kid rolled his eyes and walked away having no clue he’d just met the legendary Jim Hall. Jim looked at me and we both started laughing. Through his laughter, he said, "I always do that. I think it's pretty funny. They just think I'm the dirty old man now, haha." 

When I went to class at NYU later that day, I told a bunch of my musician friends there about it and a few months later one of them - a bass player - came to class and, through his laughter, said to me, “You’ll never guess what happened to me this morning!”