Herb Hall was born in Reserve, Louisiana in 1907 and is the brother of Edmond Hall. His first instrument was the banjo, then he switched to clarinet and alto sax in 1926. While in Louisiana, Herb worked with the Niles Jazz Band, Augustine Victor, Professor Holmes' Band, and Sidney Desvigne.

Then in late 1929, Herb joined Don Albert's band and stayed with him off and on until 1940. From 1940-45, he remained in San Antonio working mainly with drummer Fats Martin's quartet. He moved to Philadelphia in 1945 and joined Herman Autrey's band until 1947, after which he joined trumpeter Harvey Davis' band at the Club Cinderella in New York until 1954.

After this, during the 50's and 60's Herb worked with Doc Cheatham, toured Europe with Sam Price, and appeared regularly at Ryan's and Condon's in New York. In 1968, he joined Wild Bill Davison's Jazz Giants. In the 70's, he appeared with Don Ewell, Bob Greene, and Red Balaban, after which he moved back to San Antonio. He also toured extensively during the 1980's, including several tours of Europe.

It was nice to have Herb come to town and work with us. He appeared regularly on Sunday nights at the Landing from 1978-1992 and also occasionally subbed for our clarinetist. When San Antonio jazzman Don Albert died in 1980, Herb played some hymns at his funeral. He got a very pretty tone out of his Albert system clarinet left to him by his brother, Edmond. This gave me a reason to push forward with the idea of doing the Jazz Mass program, which was originally intended to feature Herb with our band--some of the original arrangements are for two clarinets.

Herb and his wife Annie Lou Hall celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on January 22, 1996.

Herb died on March 6, 1996. He was a very fine gentleman in every regard and was very much loved.