Tributes have been pouring in for Alfred “Honky” Hall, one of the oldest drummers in the British Isles, who recently passed away at the age of 102.
A beloved figure in Jersey’s music scene for more than seven decades, Mr. Hall died earlier this month, surrounded by his family. Throughout his life, he played with numerous bands, groups, and orchestras, even performing for Winston Churchill with an army band at the age of 21.
Mr. Hall’s love for music started early in life, joining a choir in school, and this passion has clearly been passed down to his three children, all of whom are musicians.
Born in rural Cheshire as the youngest of ten siblings, Mr. Hall moved with his family to Manchester as a child. He joined the Manchester Cathedral Choir, where he developed a deep appreciation for cathedral, organ, and classical music. His passion for drumming led him to create his own drum kit from potato barrels, empty tins, and a foot pedal made of Meccano.
After leaving school, Mr. Hall began his career in music with an ensemble orchestra, touring the UK. During World War II, he played drums in factory bands while working as an engineer on Lancaster bombers. His skill at playing long solos during the challenging song “Honky Tonk Train Blues” earned him the nickname “Honky.”
Following extensive tours with big bands in the UK and USA, Mr. Hall first visited Jersey on holiday in 1949 and fell in love with the island. He recalled in 2021: “I’d seen a film with Tahiti in it and thought I’d love to live like that and eat coconuts rather than playing drums in the snow and the cold. Then I came to Jersey on 12 April 1949, went for a swim in the sea, and that was it.”
He soon became a mainstay in Jersey’s music scene, performing at popular venues such as the West Park Pavilion, the Opera House, Hotel L’Horizon, and the Blue Note Bar. By the early 1960s, as the Beatles and pop music began to dominate, big-band gigs became scarce. “Everything went haywire in Jersey,” he noted in 2011. “Most musicians left to go back to the UK. Things got a bit stiff, and we weren’t getting the work.”
Despite these changes, Mr. Hall stayed in Jersey and continued to play. His holiday had led to an idyllic lifestyle—working mornings as a delivery driver, spending afternoons on the beach, and drumming in the evenings. It was on one of these beaches that he met his future wife, Mary.
Together, they raised three children—Jean, Jon, and Jane—each of whom inherited their father’s love of music. Jean is a music teacher, Jane plays the cello, and Jon runs Outside of Music, a charity that uses music therapy to help people in acute care.
Reflecting on his father’s life, Jon Hall described him as “a force of nature” and a remarkable musician. “He was able to weave fascinating stories of his life as a jazz drum soloist and boy chorister at Manchester Cathedral with stories of love and adulation for his hero, the legendary drummer Buddy Rich. If you’d have ever met him, you’d have probably thought, ‘When is he gonna shut up!’ It was incredible.”
Even in his later years, Mr. Hall remained deeply passionate about music, performing regularly well into his 90s and 100s. He frequently entertained members of the Eastern Good Companions Club and residents at Joseph’s Residential and Nursing Home. As Jon noted, “He was obsessed with music, in a way.”
