Faculty

Profile

In his fifth decade as a major jazz artist, Hal Galper continues the innovation that has made him one of today‘s most surprising and satisfying pianists.

A student of the piano from the age of six, Galper entered the Berklee School of Music in Boston on a scholarship in 1955 and studied technique with the famous Madam Chaloff. He quickly gravitated to the city’s jazz clubs, supplementing his formal Berklee training by studying the performances of such Boston stalwarts as Jaki Byard, Sam Rivers and Herb Pomeroy. It wasn’t long before Galper had soaked up enough practical jazz knowledge that he was employed as house pianist at The Stables, Lennie’s On The Turnpike and Connelly’s, leading Boston jazz emporiums.

Beginning his international performing career in a three-year stint with trumpeter Chet Baker, he went on to be an integral member of the bands of Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods. He also worked with Sam Rivers, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz and Roy Eldridge, among dozens of other major jazz figures. Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Galper formed one of his most critically acclaimed groups as a leader in the early '70s. With trumpeter Randy Brecker, his saxophonist brother Michael, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Billy Hart, the new Hal Galper Quintet debuted at Sweet Basil in New York’s Greenwich Village, eventually recording four albums including Reach Out, Speak With a Single Voice, Children Of The Night and Redux 78.

Galper’s discography includes 103 albums, with 33 of them under his name. He is a leader not only as a performer but also as an educator, with emphasis on theory, performance and the worldly side of music as a profession. He is a founding member of New York's New School Of Jazz And Contemporary Music and recently retired from his 14 year tenure at Purchase Conservatory.

His articles have appeared in Downbeat and the Jazz Educators’ Journal. Mr. Galper has won a Grammy award for his work with the Phil Woods Quartet/Quintet, received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Berklee College of Music, and multiple awards from the IAJE. He has also received grants from the NEA, the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Foundation, and The New School.

http://www.halgalper.com
https://www.facebook.com/halsyoungbloods/?ref=bookmarks
https://www.facebook.com/The-Hal-Galper-Trio-116975761721062/
http://www.halgalper.com/forward-motion/

Degrees Held

Artists Diploma: Berklee College of Music
Distinguished Alumnus Award: Berklee College of Music
IAJE Certificates of Appreciation: 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996
Harvard University Certificate of Appreciation: 1989

Awards And Honors

New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music,1986-Current

Purchase Conservatory, Retired 2014

William Paterson College, Fall Lecture Series, Current

Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camps 1980- 1995

Bud Shank Jazz Camp 1992- 1994

Stanford University Jazz Camp 1991

International Visiting Lecturer to over one hundred Colleges and Universities.