Artist:Chico Hamilton Quintet
Song:Just A-Sittin' & a-Rockin'
Album:The Original Ellington Suite
Drummer Forestorn "Chico" Hamilton is probably mest known for his series of albums from the late 50s but he's also an educator and is still touring today. He was born Sept. 21, 1921 in Los Angeles. This album is a reissue of one of his classics. He first took up the drums in high school playing with several future jazz legends like Dexter Gordon & Charles Mingus. He was probably best known as Lena Horne's drummer until he decided to strike out on his own in 1955. He made several classic albums for Pacific Jazz including this 1959 album The Ellington Suite. This album of Duke Ellington songs includes Buddy Collette on sax, Jim Hall on guitar, Fred Katz on cello and Carson Smith on bass. We now know that wasn't the complete session. There were recordings featuring Eric Dolphy on sax & flute but producer Richard Bock didn't like them so he didn't release them. These long lost recordings were discovered and added to this 2000 reissue by Blue Note producer Michael Cuscuna. So the album is recommended to Dolphy fans. In the 60s, Hamilton got involved in writing music for films and especially TV commercials. He also teaches at New School University. But he continues to tour and he records on his Joyous Shout label. He released Hamiltonia in 2007. Here's Chico Hamilton performing Blue Sands at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival as part of the Bert Stern film Jazz On a Summer's Day.
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