Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton made five albums for Soul Note between June 1989 and April 1993, and this box gathers them in their original card sleeves. They open with a reunion of the original Chico Hamilton Quintet, cello and flute included, and move on to the drummer's band of the early 1990s, Euphoria, built around saxophonist Eric Person and guitarist Cary DeNigris. The run closes with a record of Hamilton alone with his drums.

Reunion was recorded at Barigozzi Studio in Milan on June 28 and 29, 1989, and is credited to the Original Chico Hamilton Quintet. Hamilton plays drums and sings, with Buddy Collette on flute, clarinet and alto saxophone, Fred Katz on cello, John Pisano on guitar and Carson Smith on bass. The other four were made in New York. Arroyo, recorded at Manhattan Center Studios in December 1990, is Chico Hamilton and Euphoria with Person on alto and tenor, DeNigris and Reggie Washington on bass. Trio!, cut at Master Sound Astoria in May 1992, strips the group to drums, guitar and Person's alto, soprano and sopranino saxophones. My Panamanian Friend, recorded in the same studio that August with Kenny Davis on bass, is subtitled The Music Of Eric Dolphy, with Person switching between alto and flute. Dancing To A Different Drummer, taped in Astoria in March and April 1993, credits Hamilton alone, on drums, percussion, gong and voice, as composer of every piece. Hamilton and Giovanni Bonandrini are credited as producers.

Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note, CAM Jazz box BXS 1029 from 2014: five CDs, remastered in 2014, reissuing Soul Note albums first released between 1991 and 1994.