Born in Medford, Massachusetts on June 1, 1924, Hal McKusick was a jazz alto
saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, and educator. His musical career began when
he worked with several big bands led by Woody Herman (1943), Boyd Raeburn
(1944-45), Alvino Rey (1946), and Claude Thornhill (1948-49). In 1955, McKusick
released East Coast Jazz Series No. 8, his first album as a leader. Over the
next two years, that debut was followed in quick succession by a series of
albums including In a Twentieth-Century Drawing Room (1956), Jazz at the Academy
(1957), The Jazz Workshop (1957), and Cross...