Featuring the multi-talented Jim Hale

Jim and Jacquie Hale have been in my life since the early 80s --- days of visiting clients at their homes while preparing their income taxes. Both are amazing, with an incredible variety and scope of interests and talents that make my head spin trying to keep up! We’ll definitely feature Jacquie in an upcoming Blog, but I really wanted to focus on Jim, newly “re-retired” as he’ll point out, and back to working full time in music, much to the delight of his many fans. Here’s a chance to have one on one time with a local musical artist of world renowned fame, who defines retirement as a time to pursue one’s passions without pause.

Jim, you are an accomplished musician, especially well known as a singer. Tell us a bit about growing up with that talent, how your musicality impacted your educational path after high school, and who your early influences were.

Music has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was singing harmony with my brothers not long after I learned to talk. I started talking at a late age. As I explained to my mom when I finally came out with a sentence and she asked why I hadn’t spoken before, “Up until now, I did not need to talk – everything was fine.”

My first big influence was the Everly Brothers. I could never get enough of singing in harmony. I would add a third part to all the Everly tunes as I played them on our 45 rpm turntable. My brother Steve and I got our first guitars when I was 10 and all three brothers, Steve, Larry, and I, won 2nd place in the first (and last) “annual” Hemet, California, Amateur Talent Contest singing “Bye, Bye, Love.” (On the trophy, the engraver spelled it “amature.”)

At Pomona College I majored in math, but when I heard the men’s glee club sing I realized that I really wanted to be part of that. This connected me to the music department, and during my sophomore year I switched my major to music. I also switched my musical focus to Monteverdi, Bach, Brahms, and especially Schubert. To me, Schubert’s lieder were the pinnacle of artistic achievement. When I discovered that Schubert played guitar (classical guitar was my specific major) I also discovered that the piano accompaniment for many of his songs fit the guitar rather easily, so I could do Schubert lieder all by myself, which I have done many times.

Walk us through your life’s musical journey including the wide variety of groups you’ve belonged to and performed and recorded with. What are your most memorable performances and groups?

In high school my brother Steve and I helped put together some folk groups which gave us an opportunity to perform at the Palladium in Hollywood and at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which had just opened. At Custom Fidelity studios in Pasadena we recorded a 45 rpm single of a tune I wrote. The session was produced by Clarence Treat of the New Christy Minstrels, one of our favorite musical acts (along with Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Bud and Travis, and the Limelighters).

During college I played electric guitar with the City Lights rock band in L.A. Coincidentally, this band also recorded with Custom Fidelity, and through that I got to do a session at the home of Alex Hassilev, bass player for the Limelighters (small world). My next major musical endeavor was a men’s trio, the Troubies (short for Troubadours) all Pomona grads. We sang English madrigals on the streets of San Francisco and got invited to:

• A wedding in Roaring Camp – they rented the entire park and later flew us to Encino for a follow-up reception,
• An ‘orgy’ in Nevada – really just a toga party,
• A celebrity golf banquet at Harvey’s Casino in Tahoe.

One of the Troubies got married – to a Pomona woman, of course -- and we were off to Europe as the Quatuor Vocal de Berkeley – posters, tee-shirts, and everything. We managed to mount a full concert for the mayor and about 1,000 citizens in the Mairie (town hall) of Brussels. During my stay in Belgium, I met my future wife, Jacquie. When I returned to California, Jacquie soon followed.

The Troubies (Jim Hale on the left)

Since I’ve known you for these many years, pursuing music has been more of an avocation rather than your main vocation. Tell us about your “other” professional career. How were you able to carve out the flexibility in your schedule to pursue your musical interests and continue to develop your incredible talent?

Up until this point I had supported my music with part-time work in computer microfilm, but when I got back to California I decided to make it my career – the old math major resurfaces. Music took a back seat, and getting to retirement while putting two girls through college took priority. My computer work parlayed into MRI research at UCSF, which I stayed with for 24 years. Our financial planning (thanks, Lynn) got me to be able to retire at a fairly young age, and although the recent crash forced me back to MRI work for another two years. I am now once again retired.

Meanwhile, although music has been an avocation, it has remained an important part of my life. Thanks to the relative flexibility of my research job, I continued to take voice lessons and eventually joined the Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME) – through a Pomona friend, naturally. PME is a semi-professional chorus with singers like me who have day jobs and have to juggle their schedules. 23 years later I am still singing with this group.

With PME I have created hundreds of a cappella arrangements and compositions for our annual Jazz and Pop show. We have done two tours of France and performed in such places as:

• Notre Dame de Chartres
• Zellerbach Hall with Kent Nagano many times, including the west coast premiere of Messiaen’s St. François D’Assise (I had a small solo)
• Zellerbach Hall with indie rock star Sufjan Stevens
• Masonic Auditorium with Andy Williams and Bobby McFerrin (two different concerts, thank goodness!)
• Carnegie Hall with Meredith Monk and Björk
• Philharmonic Hall in Berlin (Nagano again) where I had a solo and we got a Grammy nomination for the recording

A PME spin-off group I helped create was the a cappella quintet Clockwork. We twice won the regional Harmony Sweepstakes and placed second and third in the finals. For me, the peak Clockwork moment was singing at Birdland in New York and being asked to do an encore. We also worked with vocal jazz legends Phil Mattson and Kirby Shaw.

Clockwork with the Birdland MC (third from left) -- that's me on the left

What musical endeavors are you working on now?

Another PME spin-off (and still spinning) is the Spuddle Brothers, a (sort of) blue-grass quartet. I have begun learning the mandolin and lap steel guitar and have revived my banjo chops from my high school days. We are more intent on having fun than being seriously professional (as opposed to Clockwork), although we do have our standards. We are writing some original tunes in addition to arranging some surprising covers (Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello). So far, singing on the streets of Berkeley and doing a few open mic evenings around the Bay Area are the extent of our public performing.

Spuddles with me on banjo

What do you see for the future of the arts, such as yours? These very hard economic times have affected so many artists profoundly, and not typically well.

Many of my friends have careers in music, most of them as educators. They tell me that music and other arts are the first casualties of economic decline. My own group, PME, has seen a significant decline in donations both from individuals and foundations. As politics swing from right to left to right, organizations such as the NEA hang in the balance. Pop music tends to survive these swings, but other music, like, say, Schubert, does not do so well.

Like so many people, Jim, you are facing some health challenges. Do you mind sharing those with us, and tell us how they are impacting the choices you are making in your life now? You recently retired, and so I’m wondering if that will affect your future choices in pursuing your beloved avocation?

These two questions bring up some related issues. It is inevitable that aging affects the ability to do music. The joints get stiff, the voice loses its flexibility and clarity, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. I know I cannot keep doing this forever. Thus, although I do have more time for music now, Jacquie and I are thinking about the fact that we both love to travel and will likely shift our priorities in that direction while we can still enjoy it to its fullest.

A compounding factor is the current repair project on our house. The noise makes it difficult to practice, arrange, or compose. As I write this, hammers and drills are blasting away at the wall in my “second” office. My “first” office has no floor. As the other Jim says in last month’s Blog, don’t try to live in your house during a renovation!

I know our readers will want to hear you perform or snag one of your CDs. Where will you be performing? Can we keep up with you on-line? And how can we acquire past CDs?

You can find photos, sound clips, and upcoming concerts (where you can buy CDs) at www.pacificmozart.org. The Spuddle Brothers have a presence at www.reverbnation.com which you can find through Google. We just did open mic night at the Starry Plough on Feb. 22 and are hoping to do open mic night at Freight and Salvage in March.

Jim and Jacquie on the slopes

Jim’s story reminds us, I think, of the incalculable importance, not to mention rewards, of keeping up with one’s passions and not letting even a moment of life slip by unintentionally. My family was fortunate to catch him at the (then) brand new Cal Shakes Amphitheatre in Orinda. His solo performance of “The Rose” was stirring and gave us all goose bumps! I hope you have a chance to catch him live, or recorded. A true treat! Jim has also agreed to chat with anyone who is interested by email. You can reach him as follows: jim.hale47@sbcglobal.net Many thanks, Jim, for sharing such a personal view of your life and times.