Chico Hamilton Quintet - Complete Studio Sessions 1958-1959 / 2CD set

2008 European CD collection.

Chico Hamilton, a musician of extraordinary vision and understanding, knew the risks that small jazz bands take when they enter the so-called classical realms. So he licked the problem largely by selecting his men and materials with extreme caution and rare perspicacity. In the special talents of guitarist Dennis Budimir and cellist Nathan Gershman, the leader added two individual and skilled voices, one jazz-slanted and one classically oriented, but both highly flexible. And in Eric Dolphy, he acquired a remarkable instrumentalist whose command of horns and musical language ranged from Hodges to Parker. Dolphy was particularly outstanding in this third version of Hamiltons quintet. He thoroughly understood the disparate concepts of pitch and tone that frequently stand in the way of those who would deal with both jazz and legitimate techniques. This set is, in essence, a summation of the evolution Chico Hamiltons quintet had gone through before it reached the end of its time as a working group.

CD1
01. Pottsville, U.S.A.
02. Dons Delight
03. Andante
04. Fair Weather
05. Modes
06. Something To Live For
07. Speak Low
08. Strange
09. Close Your Eyes
10. Evrything Ive Got
11. Long Ago (And Far Away)
12. I Gave My Love A Cherry
13. Beyond The Blue Horizon
14. Nature By Emerson
15. Tuesday At Two
16. Gongs East
17. Far East
18. Good Grief, Dennis

CD2
01. Passion Flower
02. Where I Live
03. Opening
04. Truth
05. Fat Mouth
06. Theme For A Starlet
07. Little Lost Bear
08. Champs Elysees
09. Pretty Little Theme
10. Lost In The Night
11. Frou Frou
12. Lullaby For Dreamers
13. Cawn Pawn
14. Lady E
15. More Than You Know
16. Newport News
17. Miss Movement