Hal's Angels

Message

yedancer · #1 Post by **yedancer** » Tue May 20, 2003 2:18 pm

We have a new band in San Diego that I think some of you guys will like. The name of the band is Hal's Angels, and it's made up of some of San Diego's best musicians including Carl Sonny Leyland and Hal Smith. You can check out some clips from one of their demo CDs here. They play all sorts of stuff: blues, boogie woogie, Kansas City jazz. We're really looking forward to having them play at our sunday night club next month. I'm not sure when they'll be releasing a marketable CD.

SirScratchAlot · #2 Post by **SirScratchAlot** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:25 am

Damn, whats the date they will be playin? They are two of the finest! Jesus man, Hal Smith was voted #1 Trad Jazz drummer for a couple years by some magazine , damn i forgot it was about 3 or 4 years ago. Bobby Gordon Trio as you know played our Exchange 3 years ago.
and well, Carl Sonny Lehland is god....on the 88. I think could possibly be the best in the world, atleast in Boogie.
His band is who played the SF vs LA challenge...

who else is in the band?

yedancer · #3 Post by **yedancer** » Wed May 21, 2003 8:55 am

The members of the band are:

Anita Thomas - reeds, vocals, arranger
Katie Cavera - guitar, vocals, arranger
Carl Sonny Leyland - piano, vocals
Mike Earls - bass
Hal Smith - drums, leader

They're going to be playing on June 15th at the Aubergine. You should come down for it, Peter. I have the feeling this band is definitely going to rock.

yedancer · #4 Post by **yedancer** » Fri May 30, 2003 9:56 am

Pop!

This band is playing it 2 weeks in San Diego. If any of you are in SoCal, you should definitely try to make it. If housing is an issue, send me an e-mail and I can probably arrange for you to crash with someone.

yedancer · #5 Post by **yedancer** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 10:10 am

Final notice to come see Hal's Angels this weekend in San Diego.

yedancer · #6 Post by **yedancer** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:01 pm

Hal's Angels have a CD out and it's definitely worth getting. Their sound on the CD is a little bit smoother than their live show. I personally like the way they sound live better, but I would still definitely recommend the CD. The cool thing is that multiple members of the band do vocals. You can almost just put the CD and play it and people will think you're DJing. Not that I would do that. Here's their website:

http://www.halsangels.vze.com/

mousethief · #7 Post by **mousethief** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 9:48 am

Hell, I'm sending in my check and proofs of purchase right now.

Kalman

CafeSavoy · #8 Post by **CafeSavoy** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:52 pm

Thanks for the link. The samples sound great. I like that they play a wide range of music, and well. I definitely going to order a copy.

Jonas · #9 Post by **Jonas** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:40 am

I see on their website that the only CD, "And the Angels Swing", unfortunately is sold out.

However, Hal Smith seems to have been recording quite a lot with other bands of his own, like "The Roadrunners" and "The Rhythmakers".

Searching for 'Hal Smith' on www.worldsrecords.com I found 15 CD's with him as a leader. One of them is dedicated to Alex Hill, so I guess that'd be in a Pre-Swing Era, early 30's style. The song titles on the other CD's also indicate that the music is from that from period, give or take a few years.

Are those CD's anything like the Angels stylewise? Could you recommend any of them for Swing dancing?

/Jonas

Mr Awesomer · #10 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:23 am

Jonas wrote:Could you recommend any of them for Swing dancing?

Sure... all of them.

Haydn · #11 Post by **Haydn** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:43 am

Jonas wrote:Searching for 'Hal Smith' on www.worldsrecords.com I found 15 CD's with him as a leader. One of them is dedicated to Alex Hill, so I guess that'd be in a Pre-Swing Era, early 30's style. The song titles on the other CD's also indicate that the music is from that from period, give or take a few years.

Are those CD's anything like the Angels stylewise? Could you recommend any of them for Swing dancing?

This is the search for Hal Smith on World's Records, but no sound samples there -

http://www.worldsrecords.com/cgi-bin/st ... ny&x=0&y=0

There are some sound samples for some of the albums on allmusic though -

http://wc05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=a ... qtgldke~T2

Jonas · #12 Post by **Jonas** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:27 pm

Mr Awesomer wrote:
Jonas wrote:Could you recommend any of them for Swing dancing?
Sure... all of them.

Thanks for the advice guys.

So, if I don't have the money to buy all fifteen at once, what would be the one or two best CD's to start with do you reckon, if I'm leaning towards his Swing Era stuff rather than the Traditional Jazz?

Maybe the albums "Swing, Brother, Swing" and "California Swing Cats - Stealin' Apples"?

/Jonas

Mr Awesomer · #13 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 2:31 pm

Jonas wrote:Maybe the albums "Swing, Brother, Swing" and "California Swing Cats - Stealin' Apples"?

/Jonas

The "RHYTHM, ROMANCE & ROADRUNNERS" one is especially good.

russell · #14 Post by **russell** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:19 pm

I actually found a copy of the Hal Angel's CD yesterday, paid my money and then received the email saying they had already sold it on another website. So i figuring someone else on here beat me to it