Personnel:
Buddy Collette (fl, cl, as, ts), Fred Katz (cello), Jim Hall (g), Carson Smith (b), Chico Hamilton (d)
Reference: FSRCD 512
Bar code: 8427328605120
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It is doubtful that any other combo leader in jazz has made the jump from sideman to maestro more rapidly or more unsuccessfully than Chico Hamilton. The Los Angeles-born drummer, a sideman with name bands throughout the 1940s and subsequently member of Lena Horne's accompanying trio for several years, did not really get into action as a leader until 1955, when he formed his quintet.
Their initial impact undoubtedly was helped by the quintets instrumentation. With Chico on drums, Buddy Collette on flute, clarinet and saxes, Fred Katz, cello, Jim Hall, guitar, and Carson Smith, bass, they presented an innovative sound. Never did they overpower, or use high decibels as a substitute for inventiveness. In a little more than a year on the road Chico's quintet established itself as one of the best-drawing small jazz units in the field.
—Jordi Pujol
"Over half a century later, these recordings made by drummer Chico Hamilton between 1955-1956 with his first quintet sound as fresh and unusual as they must have back in the day. The instrumentation of this group helped to form Hamilton's ear for many of the projects he was involved in and bands he would lead throughout his career.
The group consisted of Hamilton, Buddy Collette on reeds and woodwinds, bassist Carson Smith, cellist Fred Katz, and guitarist Jim Hall. Given what was transpiring on both coasts at the time -- hard bop out East and the cool sound in the West -- this music walked beyond them both. The varying textures and harmonic possibilities for a group with this instrumentation presented not only unique opportunities but unique challenges as well. In the 21st century, it sounds almost cinematic -- especially on standards like "My Funny Valentine," with a counterpoint, almost modal, lyric line played by Collette as Katz tackles the melody in the lower registers of his instruments. But it's the originals here that are so striking: the tom-tom heavy polyrhythmic structure of Collette's "Blue Sands," the uptempo bass and clarinet sprint that opens Smith's "Jonalah," and Hall's lithe, sprightly, midtempo ballad "Chrissie," with its three-part counterpoint using guitar, flute and cello in a knotty yet seamless labyrinth. In other words, the 15 tracks here, whether familiar numbers such as Russ Freeman's "The Wind," or Collette's banging "The Ghost" all come off as somehow otherworldly because of the complex yet utterly accessible melodic invention even in the most intricate of harmonic engagements.
This set, issued by Spain's Fresh Sound imprint as one of four different volumes of Hamilton's early music, contains exhaustive liner notes, current retrospective interviews with all the living players, and decent sound."
Thom Jurek -All Music Guide
