Al Haig

Alan Warren Haig (19th July 1924–16th November 1982) was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop.

Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey. He started playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in 1944, and performed and recorded under Gillespie from 1944 to 1946, as a member of Eddie Davis and His Beboppers in 1946 (also featuring Fats Navarro), and the Eddie Davis Quintet in 1947, under Parker from 1948 to 1950, and under Stan Getz from 1949 to 1951. He was part of the celebrated nonet on the first session of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool. Although Haig became known for his distinctive and pioneering bebop style, he in fact spent much of his career playing in non-jazz contexts. His work was the subject of a revival in the 1970s.