Foreststorn “Chico" Hamilton and label Joyous Shout! were VERY pleased to start the New Year off receiving some AWESOME news from Bob Davis, owner of Soul-Patrol.com:
“I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and inform you of some good news. Your album Chico Hamilton - “6th Avenue Romp" has been selected as one of “Soul-Patrol.com's Best of 2006". We have been giving out this award for the past seven years to artists that we feel have gone above and beyond in creating high quality music that helps to advance the culture that Soul-Patrol.com represents. These selections aren't based on media hype, popularity, corporate policies, radio play lists, web site visitors, or popular trends. The selections are based on one and only one factor and that is quality of content produced by the artist. That is because we think that is the only factor that people care about. Congratulations on your selection for this award."
“6th Avenue Romp" was one of four releases (the others being “Juniflip", “Believe" and “Heritage") from Chico in 2006 in celebration of his 85th birthday and these four unique releases appear in the CD w/ Mini-LP covers format and are available @: www.joyousshoutonlinestore.com and @ cdbaby.com.
Chico brings back the FUNK on “6th Avenue Romp". Featuring guest spots from: vocalist Brenna Bavis and Allman Brothers drummer Jaimoe on the Smokey Robinson gem “You Really Got A Hold On Me"; trumpeter Jon Faddis' muted musings alongside Chico's vocals on “Take The A Train"; guitarist Shuggie Otis' blistering soloistics on a swinging arrangement of T-Bone Walker's “Strollin' with Bone"; and former Hamilton band member trombonist George Bohanon augmenting Chico's working “Euphoria" group on the Paul Ramsey penned shuffle powerhouse “Thunderwalk".
Slipping up inside songs out of the R & B cannon, Chico and his “Euphoria" group spin swinging bold and beautiful arrangements of timeless classics including: Jr. Walker & The Allstars “Cleo's Mood" and “Cleo's Back"; Bill Wither's “Ain't Got No Sunshine"; Blaze's “Elevation"; Booker T & The MG's “Chicken Pox"; and Stevie Wonder's “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever). Rounding out the set is Cary DeNigris swinging a hole in your head on the Basie chestnut “Topsy", propelled by Chico's high-hat and ride cymbal.
6th Avenue is where Chico lived in LA before moving to NYC in the mid-60's, and “6th Avenue Romp" reads like an encyclopedia of patented Hamilton grooves: whether it be that classic “Conquistadors" beat turning “Cleo's Mood" into a guaranteed dance floor stomper; the swinging cymbal-snare-bass drum syncopation of “You Really Got A Hold On Me", “Take The A Train", “Strollin' With Bone", “Thunderwalk", and “Gotta Make Things Right"; the brush & stick bossa on “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever); or the bass drum back beat driven funk of “Ain't No Sunshine", “Chicken Pox", and “Cleo's Back"- every track is a lesson in the Hamiltonian drum ethic!!
Chico Hamilton Turns 85 by Robert R. Calder from PopMatters.com:
“6th Avenue Romp is meant to be the most fun of the four releases, like late 1940s proto-R&B, as played by excellent jazzmen before they ran out of work altogether, but here enhanced with the reverb blues guitar and Fender bass of a later day. Then comes “Topsy", composed by Eddie Durham, performed by the DeNigris-Ramsey-Hamilton trio with an aplomb I've pined for when hearing whole albums by people who normally perform with that identical instrumentation. DeNigris is a fount of invention, and the bassist and drummer accommodate to his shifts of emphasis. Can this be the next Hamilton project, please? Other highlights are “Elevation" with soprano, dark bass figures, thudding emphasis; and Shuggie Otis on “Strollin' With Bone" demonstrating what a guitarist he is and what lengthy mileage there still is in the music devised by T-Bone Walker when Chico Hamilton was a lad in California. “Thunderwalk" is more West Coast R&B, and “Take the A-Train" made me want to check whether on a celebrated album led by Mercer Ellington it was Jon Faddis who did the solo trumpet work on that one. Ellington, as composed by Billy Strayhorn and voiced by the great trumpeter Ray Nance, who also sang. On this one Hamilton sings, and there's more singing and lots and lots of the sort of music major jazzmen were making for money but not without fun fifty-five years back. It was Hamilton's thirtieth year to Heaven, Rhythm and Blues in the Pacific Air!"
Chico was recently profiled by Ashley Kahn on NPR's “Morning Edition": http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6112226. This coming March, Chico will be @ the Kennedy Center to receive their “Living Jazz Legend Award". Chico's latest info is available @ www.myspace.com/chicohamilton, where in a short amount of time Chico has garnered more than 10,000 friends, and staged an exclusive celebrity remix event with contributions from Fertile Ground, the UK's Emeson, and Marlon Saunders!! Also recently announced is the winner of the Chico Hamilton MySpace Remix Contest, where DJ's downloaded loops posted in Chico's MySpace Player, using these loops in their own unique take on Chico and his music and rhythms. The winner, “Conquistadors" from Eddy V. (www.myspace.com/eddyvelez), is now posted as the lead track in Chico's MySpace player @ www.myspace.com/chicohamilton.
Visit our online store to purchase YOUR copy of “6th Avenue Romp", Chico's other Joyous Shout! releases “Juniflip" , “Believe" & “Heritage", as well as other signed Chico Hamilton albums and memorabilia! Newly added are copies of the Toshiba-EMI Japanese exclusive limited edition remastered reissue of “Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette" (Pacific Jazz 1209), packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. You can also purchase these releases @ cdbaby.com.
“I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and inform you of some good news. Your album Chico Hamilton - “6th Avenue Romp" has been selected as one of “Soul-Patrol.com's Best of 2006". We have been giving out this award for the past seven years to artists that we feel have gone above and beyond in creating high quality music that helps to advance the culture that Soul-Patrol.com represents. These selections aren't based on media hype, popularity, corporate policies, radio play lists, web site visitors, or popular trends. The selections are based on one and only one factor and that is quality of content produced by the artist. That is because we think that is the only factor that people care about. Congratulations on your selection for this award."
“6th Avenue Romp" was one of four releases (the others being “Juniflip", “Believe" and “Heritage") from Chico in 2006 in celebration of his 85th birthday and these four unique releases appear in the CD w/ Mini-LP covers format and are available @: www.joyousshoutonlinestore.com and @ cdbaby.com.
Chico brings back the FUNK on “6th Avenue Romp". Featuring guest spots from: vocalist Brenna Bavis and Allman Brothers drummer Jaimoe on the Smokey Robinson gem “You Really Got A Hold On Me"; trumpeter Jon Faddis' muted musings alongside Chico's vocals on “Take The A Train"; guitarist Shuggie Otis' blistering soloistics on a swinging arrangement of T-Bone Walker's “Strollin' with Bone"; and former Hamilton band member trombonist George Bohanon augmenting Chico's working “Euphoria" group on the Paul Ramsey penned shuffle powerhouse “Thunderwalk".
Slipping up inside songs out of the R & B cannon, Chico and his “Euphoria" group spin swinging bold and beautiful arrangements of timeless classics including: Jr. Walker & The Allstars “Cleo's Mood" and “Cleo's Back"; Bill Wither's “Ain't Got No Sunshine"; Blaze's “Elevation"; Booker T & The MG's “Chicken Pox"; and Stevie Wonder's “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever). Rounding out the set is Cary DeNigris swinging a hole in your head on the Basie chestnut “Topsy", propelled by Chico's high-hat and ride cymbal.
6th Avenue is where Chico lived in LA before moving to NYC in the mid-60's, and “6th Avenue Romp" reads like an encyclopedia of patented Hamilton grooves: whether it be that classic “Conquistadors" beat turning “Cleo's Mood" into a guaranteed dance floor stomper; the swinging cymbal-snare-bass drum syncopation of “You Really Got A Hold On Me", “Take The A Train", “Strollin' With Bone", “Thunderwalk", and “Gotta Make Things Right"; the brush & stick bossa on “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever); or the bass drum back beat driven funk of “Ain't No Sunshine", “Chicken Pox", and “Cleo's Back"- every track is a lesson in the Hamiltonian drum ethic!!
Chico Hamilton Turns 85 by Robert R. Calder from PopMatters.com:
“6th Avenue Romp is meant to be the most fun of the four releases, like late 1940s proto-R&B, as played by excellent jazzmen before they ran out of work altogether, but here enhanced with the reverb blues guitar and Fender bass of a later day. Then comes “Topsy", composed by Eddie Durham, performed by the DeNigris-Ramsey-Hamilton trio with an aplomb I've pined for when hearing whole albums by people who normally perform with that identical instrumentation. DeNigris is a fount of invention, and the bassist and drummer accommodate to his shifts of emphasis. Can this be the next Hamilton project, please? Other highlights are “Elevation" with soprano, dark bass figures, thudding emphasis; and Shuggie Otis on “Strollin' With Bone" demonstrating what a guitarist he is and what lengthy mileage there still is in the music devised by T-Bone Walker when Chico Hamilton was a lad in California. “Thunderwalk" is more West Coast R&B, and “Take the A-Train" made me want to check whether on a celebrated album led by Mercer Ellington it was Jon Faddis who did the solo trumpet work on that one. Ellington, as composed by Billy Strayhorn and voiced by the great trumpeter Ray Nance, who also sang. On this one Hamilton sings, and there's more singing and lots and lots of the sort of music major jazzmen were making for money but not without fun fifty-five years back. It was Hamilton's thirtieth year to Heaven, Rhythm and Blues in the Pacific Air!"
Chico was recently profiled by Ashley Kahn on NPR's “Morning Edition": http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6112226. This coming March, Chico will be @ the Kennedy Center to receive their “Living Jazz Legend Award". Chico's latest info is available @ www.myspace.com/chicohamilton, where in a short amount of time Chico has garnered more than 10,000 friends, and staged an exclusive celebrity remix event with contributions from Fertile Ground, the UK's Emeson, and Marlon Saunders!! Also recently announced is the winner of the Chico Hamilton MySpace Remix Contest, where DJ's downloaded loops posted in Chico's MySpace Player, using these loops in their own unique take on Chico and his music and rhythms. The winner, “Conquistadors" from Eddy V. (www.myspace.com/eddyvelez), is now posted as the lead track in Chico's MySpace player @ www.myspace.com/chicohamilton.
Visit our online store to purchase YOUR copy of “6th Avenue Romp", Chico's other Joyous Shout! releases “Juniflip" , “Believe" & “Heritage", as well as other signed Chico Hamilton albums and memorabilia! Newly added are copies of the Toshiba-EMI Japanese exclusive limited edition remastered reissue of “Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette" (Pacific Jazz 1209), packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. You can also purchase these releases @ cdbaby.com.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
