Jazz Articles about Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton: The Original Chico Hamilton Quintet Complete Studio Recordings

by Hrayr Attarian
July 28, 2006

How do you make chamber jazz? Chico Hamilton did it utilizing a guitarist, a cellist, a bassist, a reedman, and of course a drummer. Lone Hill Jazz has reissued the complete studio recordings of this unusual yet intriguing quintet, augmented by two additional tracks from the same era, one by the string trio from the above quintet and one by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chico Hamilton on drums. We should congratulate Lone Hill for releasing such valuable music in ...

The Chico Hamilton Quintet: A Different Journey

by David Rickert
August 18, 2002

Chico Hamilton always maintained that the line-up on A Different Journey was his favorite of all his quintets, and it’s easy to see why; with both Gabor Szabo and Charles Lloyd on hand, some interesting ideas are going to emerge. By this time Hamilton had cast off the light, chamber jazz directions he pursued in the fifties in favor of the advances of Coltrane and Coleman. In Lloyd he chose a perfect musical director; his compositions are not based on ...

Chico Hamilton: Foreststorn

by Glenn Astarita
June 1, 2001

Legendary drummer/bandleader/educator Chico Hamilton celebrates his inaugural album for Koch, along with his current working band and some very special guest artists such as Rolling Stones (and frequent jazz performer), drummer Charlie Watts, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, trombonist Steve Turre and others. Simply stated, this well traveled, highly influential and thoroughly hip musician surges onward amid his now famous lightning quick rim-shots, swiftly executed cymbal work, melodic fills and altogether impeccable timekeeping. Here, Hamilton and co. provide us with a ...

Chico Hamilton Quintet: The Original Ellington Suite

by Jim Santella
September 1, 2000

The late 1950s were significant to jazz. Fresh ideas were being developed and new directions were about to become reality. The same is true, of course, for our world history of that era. Everyone was affected.

Previously unissued, The Original Ellington Suite was recorded August 22, 1958 in Los Angeles. A different Chico Hamilton Quintet (his first), with Buddy Collette, Jim Hall, Fred Katz and Carson Smith (plus Paul Horn), recorded these Ellington pieces several months later and released an ...

Chico Hamilton: The Original Ellington Suite

by AAJ Staff
September 1, 2000

Certainly one of the most significant and exciting jazz discoveries of the year, “The Original Ellington Suite" almost never saw the light of day. In spite of the efforts of re-issue producer extraordinaire, Michael Cuscuna, no one could find this original Chico Hamilton recording of a suite of Ellington tunes that included his second group--and one which significantly involved Eric Dolphy. In fact, “The Original Ellington Suite" reportedly includes the first recorded solos of Eric Dolphy, who would move on ...

Chico Hamilton Quintet: The Ellington Suite

by David Rickert
September 1, 2000

Every jazz fan spends countless hours scouring the cut-out bins and used record stores looking for buried treasure. If they’re lucky, they find an out of print Blue Note, like the copy of The All Seeing Eye that I found in a record store in Portland, or incredible bargains, like the copy of Happy Frame of Mind that I found for four bucks in Columbus. Sometimes one can even find a CD that they never knew about. But how many ...

Chico Hamilton: Timely

by Douglas Payne
December 1, 1999

Consider the time drummer Chico Hamilton has spent in jazz. At 78, he's one of the music's survivors. He's been at the forefront of several of its major trends - the Cool school in the 1950s, the New Thing in the 1960s, the introduction of rock to jazz and, early on, exploring the commercial possibilities of jazz. He's also introduced a formidable cast of innovators to the music: Eric Dolphy, Charles Lloyd, Arthur Blythe, Gabor Szabo and Larry Coryell to ...