Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette

WHAT NYMITH SAYS

In the generally uninspired year of 1955, few innovators were rocking the house - even jazz was running on predictable lines once Bop became standard practice. And so we turn to the little-known Chico Hamilton Quintet for something new and interesting: bridging the gap between jazz and chamber classical. The emphasis isn't on Chico Hamilton's drumming, it's on cello (played by Fred Katz) and flute/clarinet (played by Buddy Collette). What's surprising is that such an imaginative departure from the norm is so blissfully pastoral. It begins with 'A Nice Day' and goes from there.

Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette (pity about the title) is divided between a studio half and a live half for reasons which I don't know. The studio half is purer, presenting fewer surface dynamics but (in my opinion) richer depths for the returning listener. 'A Nice Day' is just a nice song so things get going on the second track, an interpretation of 'My Funny Valentine' where the cello brings the romanticism of the melody to full flower, as it later enhances the haunting, melancholic mood of 'The Sage.' An indispensable instrument, to be sure.

The highest of the highlights is the enigmatic 'Blue Sands.' It starts with echoey mallet drumming and the lonely whistling of the flute but as the guitar joins in it slowly revves up into an exciting jive which it quickly subverts, subsiding back into its middle-eastern beginnings. On my first listen, this irritated me but over time it has become apparent that there was no better way to conclude the song without spoiling its one-of-a-kind ambiance.

On the heels of this carefully layered atmosphere 'The Morning After' freshens up proceedings, conveying the Quintet's energy and sunny disposition and ushering in the live half, with 'I Want to Be Happy' carrying on in the same vein. 'Spectacular' and 'Free Form' show their individual style where it comes to performing jazz. They must have been a treat to see live. Only 'Walking Carson Blues' is generic: sax and guitar solos, over a lifeless thump-thump from bass and drumkit. Mildly moody, but quite average when compared to the songs that came before.

Sadly, Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette is a little-known record. Without a doubt, it is the best record of 1955, pushing jazz in beautiful new directions.

WHAT TICHARU SAYS

1955 musically speaking was a bit one sided. There was jazz, and then there was more jazz... you had people singing over a jazz combo and not letting them play much or you had wild jazzers soloing endlessly scaring all the singers and sane people away.

Where are the odd fish? Lennie Tristano was an odd fish who tried overdubbing and got slated for it. Such a rebel but a tad dull if you put it on the turntable. No, if you're looking for the odd fish in 1955 you'll quickly discover a dearth in the record bins which makes the album by Chico Hamilton such a light in a dark room. There's nothing else like it!

Is it classical music? No, now they're jazzers but where's the squacking horns? Where are the tuneless drum solos? It's so different, how can I cope? It's a bit Third Stream actually and that's what I like about it. It's a fun record, the music has a sense of humour, it's extremely well played without the kind of breathless bombast coming at you from some of the other jazz albums of 1955. OK, Jim Hall's guitar playing is a little tedious at times and the arrangements are perhaps a bit careful. It's a great record and I'll be looking for more stuff by Chico Hamilton for sure.