THE THREE FACES OF CHICO (Warner Brothers, WS 1344) 1959
Chico Hamilton (d), Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet, fl), Nate Gershman (cello), Dennis Budimir (g), Wyatt Ruther (b), plus Paul Horn (as), Buddy Collette (ts), Bill Green (bar) & String section.
Los Angeles, February-August, 1959.
Notes by Chico Hamilton
We’ve called this new album “The Three Faces of Chico” because I play three roles in it. I guess this set may surprise some people. and it even may annoy others. But I hope there’s something of real interest in it for every jazz fan.
First of all, I guess I’m best known as a drummer. And that is one of the roles I play here. There are three tracks that are unaccompanied drum solos—Trinkets, Happy Little Dance, and No Speak No English, Man. On each of these I haven’t tried to prove anything. but have tried to inject a little humor into some listeners’ thoughts.
In regard to these drums tracks. I can only say that it’s diffient for a drummer to play anything different than any other average drummer; although each drummer does have his own individual styling. I used the standard equipment I have with me whenever the Quintet takes the stand: two cymbals, sock cymbal, snare drum, tom toms, and bass drum. I didn’t use tympani because I’m not a tympanist … and I just don’t carry them around. Instead, I work with sticks. mallets, and brushes to obtain different sound textures.
On Trinkets. for example. I worked eyclusively with brushes. It’s a welcome change of sound. For Happy Little Dance, I used mallets throughout. And this one could be danced to, if you dig folk dancing. For No Speak No English, Man. which is a sort of wild thing, I worked with sticks, and played a lot on the rims. I wanted to get a sound like Indian drummers talking to each other.
We did these solos in one take each. I didn’ work from a score but laid the sequences out in my mind before we started the tape rolling.
The second face I wear on this set is that of a singer. Now, this is a new thing for me on records, although I’ve done some singing on the floor with my group, mostly Foggy Day, because that was the one song I knew all the way through.
But having worked with such singers as Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, and Billy Eckstine, I felt I could do it. Actually, what I’m really interested in is phrasing. That’s the most effective thing for a singer. That, and good material. I figured that if I was going to sing something, I’d better sing something everyone knows, so they could recognize the tune, if not the melody.
I used a reed section because I wanted to bring back the old Jimmie Lunceford sound with reeds. It’s not often you hear a reed section playing ensemble choruses. Gerry Wiggins arranged The Best Things in Life Are Free, and John Anderson scored the other vocal sides: She’s Funny That Way, Where or When and I Don’t Know Why.
There’s not much more to say about my singing, except that I hope you like it.
The third face I wear is that of the leader of the Quintet. My group consists of Wyatt Ruther on bass. Eric Dolphy on flute and reeds. Dennis Budimer on guitar, and Nathan Gershman on cello. Quite frankly, of all the Quintets I’ve had in the past, I think this one is the swingingest.
On these tracks, you hear a little different Quintet than what you’ve been used to. The Quintet is four years old and we’ve been constantly trying to broaden its range. Some may resent the hard swing we’re going after, but one thing for sure: in the future we’re going to try to please everyone’s musical appetite with regard to the Quintet. Music and sounds don’t stand still; you have to progress with the people. We play some hard swingers, but in our own intimate way. They’re different than the average because of our instrumentation. Our old audiences, we feel, are still satisfied because we play numbers out of our o!d book. Then there are a lot of new people who are following us, and these hard swingers seem to be what they get excited about.
The only way to really broaden the range of the Quintet is by hiring new writers to write for it. In this set, we’re introducing three. More Than You Know was arranged by Herb Pilhoffer, a pianist originally from Germany and now located in Minneapolis I think he captures the mood of the song and the Quintet very well Miss Movement is Eric Dolphy’s first attempt at writing for the Quintet. Being an exciting player, he’d write an exciting kind of jazz tune. Kenny Dorham is a wonderful trumpet player and he’s also a wonderful writer. Newport News is his first chart for our book. It’s typical of the inventive, fine arrangements that I’m always grateful to have come my way. Without these, Chico would have no face at all, let alone three!
