Scott hamilton musician biography sample

If you already know Percy France, don’t spend another moment reading what I’ve written. Go immediately to www.percyfrance.info — where you can hear him play, read about him (tributes by people who loved him), and learn more.

But if he’s only a name to you . . .

Perhaps because it is often mistaken for simple entertainment, jazz is oddly distinguished from other art forms by a powerful Star System. There is too much of “the greatest of all time,” which negates the broader accomplishments of many beautiful artists. But those who listen deeply know that alongside — not behind — Louis, there are Ray Nance and Bill Coleman; alongside Art Tatum there are Ellis Larkins and Jimmie Rowles, and so on, creative men and women ignored in the speeding-train chronicles of Important Artists.

With that in mind, and the joy of discovering someone “new,” here is tenor saxophonist Percy France. He may be little-known or even unknown to many. I did hear him on the radio (broadcasts by WKCR-FM, Columbia University’s station, from the West End Cafe in New York, presided over by Phil Schaap), but I never saw him in person.

But before you assume that Percy’s semi-obscurity is the result of a diluted talent, let me point out that this summer when Sonny Rollins was asked about him, his response was as enthusiastic as it could be. The excerpt that caught my eye is simple: I never could beat him. We were good friends, and I think of him as my brother.

Let that sink in.

And since you might be saying, “All right . . . praised by Sonny. What did he sound like?” here are three samples, thanks to Daniel Gould, about whom I will have more to say.

Here’s Percy, fluid, melodic, cheerfully making the over-familiar come alive:

and a different kind of groove, quietly lyrical:

France plays Fats, light-hearted and witty:

I admire honest deep

Saxophonist

Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton emerged as a major jazz talent in the late 1970s by bucking the trend. Whereas many jazz artists had gravitated toward free jazz in the 1960s and jazz fusion in the 1970s, Hamilton looked back toward swing and bop from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Grounded in the classic American songbook, his style embraced the lyricism of Ben Webster and the passion of John Coltrane. "What I love about his consistent tenor sax playing," noted John Barrett Jr. in Jazz Review, "is his ability to present these old standards the way the songs were originally intended—a refreshing change as everything is new again." Despite his dedication to old styles, however, Hamilton has excelled by leaving his own mark on yesterday's standards. Mark Miller in the Toronto Globe and Mail noted that "Hamilton has shaped his formative influences into a forthright style of his own."

Hamilton was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 12, 1954. As a child, he first learned to play the clarinet and took piano lessons. He also learned to play harmonica, and worked for a short time in a rock and roll band before returning to his primary love, jazz. As a teenager he listened to his father's extensive collection of classic jazz recordings from the 1930s and 1940s, and used them as a basis to teach himself to play the saxophone. In 1976 at the age of 22, Hamilton left Rhode Island for New York. The This Is Worcester website noted, "This was all several years before Wynton Marsalis and the new jazz renaissance would usher in a rediscovery of mainstream sensibilities."

In the mid-1970s Hamilton began his long residency with Concord Records, a label devoted to early styles of jazz. In 1977 he released his first album on the label, Is a Good Wind Who Is Blowing Us No Ill, on which he included versions of Coleman Hawkins's "Stuffy" and Hart-Rodgers's "The Blue Room." Early reviewers noted Hamilton's debt to jazz greats from the

Scott Hamilton is a jazz tenor saxophonist associated with swing (music) and mainstream jazz.

He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins as well as Zoot Sims and Don Byas forward. He began playing in various rhythm & blues outfits in Providence (Rhode Island), but subsequently shifted to jazz and the tenor saxophone. In 1976 he moved to New York City at, in part the recommendation of Roy Eldridge. He there joined Benny Goodman for a period of time. During this time, he also developed an alcohol problem., In the early 1980's he had formed his own quintet and toured all over the world. By then free from his drinking habit, in 1982 he had matured sufficiently to be able to break away from the spell of mainly Ben Webster and Zoot Sims, of whom he had been criticized of imitating. From this point on both his playing and his tone was very much his own.

Living in New York City, he toured all around the world during the 1980's, playing Japan and all over Europe. He was in particular a recurrent visitor to the UK, Sweden and the Grand Parade du Jazz, held in Nice, France. By the early 1990's he was ready for a next step and by 1994 when he released Organic Duke, he had developed a quite singular style: a large, well rounded but still focused tone and improvising, ostensibly still based on the swing idiom (especially Ellington), but incorporating more modern elements. During this period, he relocated to London, and formed his current quartet, featuring John Pearce (p), Dave Green (b) and Steve Brown (dr). He is currently active touring all over Europe.

He has had over forty albums as a lead most on the Concord Records label.