– Chico Hamilton Quartet – Live in Vienna – October 19, 1987 – Austrian Radio OE1 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Chico Hamilton Quartet this weekend. Recorded live at Jazzspelunke, Vienna on October 19, 1987 and preserved for posterity by Austrian Radio.
This 1987 incarnation of the Quartet features Eric Person on Alto and Soprano sax – Cary Denigris on guitar and Reggie Washington on bass. Chico Hamilton holds court on the proverbial skins and handles vocals.
No question, Chico Hamilton was a pivotal figure in the development and growth of the West Coast Cool School of Jazz in the early 1950s. His early endeavors were proof just how far ahead Hamilton was thinking and just how influential he had become in this really very revolutionary period of Music. That the various incarnations of his group gave proof that he was a key force and visionary leader and did a lot to spread the cause of Modern Jazz, not only to the West Coast, but to the Jazz world in general.
Chico Hamilton started his career in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso before he had finished high school. Engagements with Lionel Hampton, Slim & Slam, T-Bone Walker, Lester Young, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Billie Holiday, Gerry Mulligan and Lena Horne established his career.
He recorded his first album as leader in 1955 with George Duvivier (double bass) and Howard Roberts (guitar) for Pacific Jazz. In the same year Hamilton formed an unusual quintet in Los Angeles, featuring cello, flute/saxes/clarinet, guitar, bass and drums. The quintet has been described as one of the last important West Coast jazz bands.
Chico Hamilton formed a commercial and film production company in 1965, and went on to score the feature films Repulsion (1965), Mr. Ricco (1975), Coonskin (1975), By Design (1982), the television programs Portrait of Willie Mays and Gerald McBoing-Boing, and scored hundreds of commercials for TV and radio.
In 1986 Chico Hamilton formed his sextet Chico Hamilton and the Young Alto’s featuring Kenneth Lampl, Eric Person and Marc Bernstein. The group performed at the 1986 JVC Jazz Festival, the Apollo Theater, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
For a reminder of Chico Hamilton during this later, but no less important period, check out this offering from Austrian Radio in 1987.
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