Jimmy Hamilton

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Jimmy Hamilton and Harry Carney , NYC Aquarium, circa November 1946.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

James H. "Jimmy" Hamilton (born May 25, 1917 in Dillon , South Carolina , † September 20, 1994 in Saint Croix , Virgin Islands ) was an American jazz clarinetist, tenor saxophonist, arranger, composer, music teacher. He worked with Duke Ellington for 25 years .

Life

Hamilton grew up in Philadelphia , first learning to play the piano and various wind instruments. In the 1930s he began his career in various local bands where he played the clarinet and saxophone. From 1939 he worked at Lucky Millinder , then at Jimmy Mundy and Bill Doggett , in 1940 he became a member of the Teddy Wilson Sextet. After two years at Wilson, he worked with Eddie Heywood and Yank Porter .

In 1943 he replaced Barney Bigard in the Duke Ellington Orchestra, he stayed with Ellington until 1968. His style was different on the two instruments: on the tenor saxophone he had a rhythm and blues sound, while on the clarinet he played more precisely and fluently, as heard on his solo in the Newport Festival Suite ( Ellington at Newport , 1956). Harry Carney said of his sound image, "it is exactly the clarinet that I would like to be able to play - very easily with a wonderful tone".

After leaving the Ellington Orchestra, Hamilton played freelance , played with Lucky Thompson , Ernie Royal , Oscar Pettiford , Clark Terry , Paul Gonsalves and Jimmy Rowles, and worked as an arranger, moving to the Virgin Islands in the 1970s and 1980s back, where he worked as a music teacher and only occasionally returned to the USA for performances, for example for John Carter's Clarinet Summit or with David Murray . In his retirement he had his own band from 1989 to 1990.

Discography as a leader

  • 1954: Jimmy Hamilton Orchestra (Jazz Kings)
  • 1955: Jimmy Hamilton ( Urania (en) )
  • 1960: Swing Low Sweet Clarinet (Everest)
  • 1961: It's About Time (Swingville)
  • 1961: Can't Help Swinging (Prestige)
  • 1985: Rediscovered Live at the Buccaneer (Who's Who in Jazz)
  • 1991: Jimmy Hamilton & the New York Jazz Quintet (Fresh Sound)
  • 1997: Sweet but Hot (Drive Archive)
  • 1999: Jazz in July: at the Lafayette Club (Hambone Records)
  • 1999: Live at the Bucaneer (Jazz Time)

collection

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. according to Martin Kunzler: Jazzlexikon . Reinbek, Rowohlt 1993, p. 462
personal data
SURNAME Hamilton, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hamilton, James H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz clarinetist, tenor saxophonist, arranger, composer, music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Dillon , South Carolina, USA
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1994
Place of death Saint Croix , Virgin Islands