Hal McKusick, Prominent Jazz Musician And Ross School Teacher, Dies at 87

By Colleen Reynolds
A stunningly smooth, sophisticated style on the saxophone—a world-class trademark of Hal McKusick—is but a small piece of the late jazz giant’s story.

The prominent saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist hit the big-band scene with a bang beginning in the late 1940s, influenced countless musicians and, in the 1950s, started a recording career and worked with nearly all the greats in the genre, including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Mr. McKusick, who settled in Sag Harbor in 1972 and taught music at the Ross School in East Hampton from the 1990s through this past winter, died at age 87 last Tuesday, April 10, at Southampton Hospital, from complications due to a fall, according to his family. 

His death marks a somber note in jazz annals.

“He’s basically the history of post-war jazz. He’s on... MORE
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