The Chico Hamilton Quintet, The Original Ellington Suite (with Eric Dolphy), 1958.

reviewed by MRAK!

Okay people, stand back. I'm about to unleash a review of Slayer's Reign in Blood... [which was his assignment] No I'm not. Though maybe I will at a later date. Seriously, come closer, you won't hear what I'm about to play from way back there.

The Chico Hamilton Quintet, The Original Ellington Suite (with Eric Dolphy), 1958.

Lineup:

Chico Hamilton: drums

Eric Dolphy: alto sax, Bb clarinet, flute

Nate Gershman: cello

Hal Gaylor: bass

John Pisano: guitar

Cello? Ellington? Dolphy? Yes. This little gem of a record was all but dust-binned before some nerd found it in an actual dusty bin. Or something. One of those stories. Guy looks at a can (or old test-pressing of an LP in this case) that says "Unreleased" or plate of shrimp and he puts it on, then shits his pants and soon finds that yes, it is what he thinks it is, the saxophone is, in fact, Eric Dolphy, and thank God he realized that because otherwise we wouldn't have this aching heartstring of a record. For those of you a little newer to the jazz canon, Eric Dolphy is a bona-fide jazz giant who later would kindly take people's heads off playing with Coltrane and also leading his own bands with his animalistic bass clarinet, flute, and special brand of shocking, atonal, but defiantly purposeful jazz. Can you tell he's favorite of mine? But here it's 1958 and he's just getting started, led by Chico Hamilton, who, because he sat behind a drum kit and not a piano, is one of the lesser known composer/arrangers for no good reason. The tracks on this record are all, as the title suggests, Ellington compositions, and each is now a jazz standard. Amazing then that each of these tracks manages to be my all-time favorite recording of that particular number. Not to mention they are played together as a true suite, many without a break, cohesively and easily drawn from one into the next. The arrangements are spacious and open, allowing ample time and room for each instrument to speak and for Dolphy to quietly predict the chances he would soon take as a band leader. And the recording itself is wonderful considering its age and the strange, less than ideal path it took to get here from 1958. This record embodies nostalgia and melancholy and parties and sex and awesome. Next time you fall in love you'll need a record for that first night. Something classy without any stupid words in it. This would be that.

Favorite track: In a Sentimental Mood.

[If you weren't so busy complaining, Mr. Judas, you could write like this. I like holding hands, but only with girls or Beatles. Also, MRAK!, stay out of my records, kiss-ass...]