Randy Hall

Hall can play fast and explosively, as in the opening number "One Phone Call/Street Scenes" on the ESP 2 DVD A Tribute to Miles.

[2] Hall met Miles's nephew (and future drummer) Vince Wilburn Jr in kindergarten and the two became lifelong friends.

When Hall returned to Chicago, he joined a new band called Data, which included Wilburn, bassist Richard Patterson, keyboardist Robert Irving III, and saxophonist Glenn Burris.

[2] Hall, Irving and Wilburn performed with other local musicians, including bassist Darryl Jones (who joined Miles's band in 1983) and guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, who played on the Amandla album.

Instead, the four Chicago musicians were joined by a young saxophonist Bill Evans, who had been recommended to Miles by ex-band member Dave Liebman.

[3] The musicians worked on the music at Miles's house most days and in the studio and recorded more than a dozen tracks, although Davis did not play on any of them at that stage.

[1] Another was "The Man with the Horn," a tribute ballad to Miles written by Hall and Irving, which became the title track for Davis's comeback album.

[3] The release of The Man with the Horn gave Hall a lot of exposure and as a result of his singing on the title track, he was invited to join the soul/funk band Pleasure.

[3] After leaving Pleasure, Hall carved out a successful career as an artist/producer and in 1984, he released a solo album, I Belong to You, produced by Ray Parker Jr. (of Raydio and "Ghostbusters" fame).

In 1985, Hall was in Ray Parker Jr's studio (Ameraycan) in Los Angeles, recording a follow-up solo album, Love You Like A Stranger.