Search - Dave McKenna, Scott Hamilton, Jake Hanna :: Double Play

4 and 1/2 Star Grand Slam

A. K. L. | Steilacoom, WA USA | 12/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a double CD containing two of Scott Hamilton's best recording sessions, both of them from the early 80's with Dave McKenna on piano, accompanied by drums but no bass. McKenna's masterful left-hand stride provides the bass, and thus the title of the first session, 'No Bass Hit.' The second was released as 'Major League.' None of the songs are about baseball, thank God.



I play tenor, and I am amazed that few of my colleagues talk about Scott Hamilton. He's as good technically as any of the hip young lions of post-bop and he is certainly better than any tenor putting out 'smooth jazz.' Why listen to slick over-produced studio-pablum when you can hear Ben Webster, Zoot Sims and, yes, Lester Young all wrapped up in one horn? This is not to say that Hamilton imitates them: but he incorporates them into his own voice.



No, Hamilton doesn't do cutting-edge modern jazz: neither does anyone else these days, what with the quazi hip-hop sound of 'funk.' But Scott Hamilton is a serious artist. His beautiful tone (and I use that word advisedly) embodies a deep jazz history. He preserved the integrity of a lost tradition. The swing-era tenors took their big-band, tin-pan-alley songs out of the concert hall and into the small group setting of the night club. They re-phrased the melodies in countless variations, running through the chord changes again and again, ever the same yet ever new. They helped to create another style of piano too, as keyboard accompanists invented ways to drive the changes forward and suggest subtle shifts of harmony. All this resulted, of course, in bop, spawning such artists as Byrd and Miles, Rollins and Stitt and J. J. Johnson.



The transitional movement from big band to bop, the swing combo, is the moment in jazz which Scott's genius celebrates. He does it with a refinement of phrasing and a tenor tone that cannot be equalled by Marsalis, Redman or even Brecker. So give Scott Hamilton a listen. Though this is a re-release, it's some of his very best work. I would sum it up with the word, 'elegant.' And McKenna is as much a master of that swing-bop tradition on piano as Hamilton is on tenor."

A Triple Play

arch114 | 04/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent album from these fine musicians from ealrier days. Scott Hamilton is the man for anyone who knows anything about tenor saxophone. What a sound and tone. This one is a keeper."