- René Hall
René Hall (
26 September 1912 –11 February 1988 ), was an American guitarist and music arranger.He was born in
Morgan City, Louisiana , and first recorded as a banjo player with Joseph Robichaux inNew Orleans in 1933. He then worked around the country as a member of theErnie Fields Orchestra, before joiningEarl Hines as musical arranger. During the 1940s, he built up a considerable reputation as a session musician in New York, and around 1949 he formed his own sextet, which recorded for the Jubilee, Decca and RCA labels. He also worked as a talent scout for King Records, discoveringBilly Ward and the Dominoes , the group which includedClyde McPhatter .In the mid-1950s he moved to Los Angeles and began doing session work for many West Coast labels, notably Specialty, Aladdin, and Rendezvous. His jazzy guitar style was suitable for rock and roll. He worked closely with sax player
Plas Johnson and drummerEarl Palmer , and the trio can be heard together on hundreds of R&B and pop recordings. Hall was the featured guitarist on tracks like "Dizzy Miss Lizzie " (Larry Williams ) and "La Bamba" (Ritchie Valens ), as well as on recordings under his own name, or as theRene Hall Orchestra for the Rendezvous Records label on "That's It " with rock-a-billy artistBabette Bain and on many instrumentals from the late 1950s and early 1960s including the hits byB. Bumble and the Stingers .Hall also worked extensively with
Sam Cooke throughout the latter’s career, and was responsible for the arrangements on some of Cooke’s best-known songs. For "A Change Is Gonna Come" in 1964, he devised a dramatic arrangement with a symphonic overture for strings, kettledrum and French horn, separate movements for each of the first three verses, a combination of strings and kettledrum for the bridge, and a concluding crescendo.He also prepared arrangements for many Motown artists, such as
The Impressions andMarvin Gaye , including "Let’s Get It On". In 1976 he provided arrangements for Cuba Gooding Sr and conducted the orchestra for Gooding Sr's record. He died inLos Angeles .Main source
* [http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/renehall.txt Further information]
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