Revelation

In March of 2011, with his 90th birthday six months off, legendary jazz drummer/bandleader & NEA Jazz Master Foreststorn 'Chico' Hamilton trekked out of his New York City penthouse apartment to helm a marathon recording session resulting in 28 new tracks with his Euphoria group @ Manhattan Sound Recording Studios on midtown's west side. No one woodsheds like a jazz drummer, and coming off a health setback during the Summer of 2010, Chico and his Euphoria group: Paul Ramsey on bass; Nick Demopoulos on guitar; Evan Schwam on saxes, flute & piccolo; Mayu Saeki on flute, alto flute & piccolo; and Jeremy Carlstedt on drums and percussion; began sheding @ weekly rehearsals @ Chico's Penthouse A. These weekly rehearsals played an important part in Chico's rehabilitation, facilitated Chico and his group becoming very tight with each other and exploring places musically they had not previously gone together, and brought together a wealth of new original material, offered up in three courses, each of which is a different viewpoint of Chico's Revelation. The Revelation CD- With 11 tracks exclusive to this format, Revelation opens and closes with a focus on Chico @ his drum kit, and in-between takes us on a different journey from both the melodic and rhythmic points of view. From the up-tempo Latin groove of Evanly with it's vocal out chorus; the mid tempo swing of No Way LA & Ten Minutes To Twelve; the Lunceford-like band vocals on Stompin' @ The Savoy & It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got that Swing); to Chico's vocalizing on Every Time I Smile; the pastoral melodic beauty of You're Note Alone; the up-tempo funk of Black Eyed Peas; and the bossa funkiness of Foot Prints in the Sand with it's starkly beautiful vocal out chorus- every track is like turning a page in a book that's holding you on the edge of your seat, your rapt attention dieing to know what's next to be revealed. And indeed what a revelation are these 22 tracks!! From the Revelation CD liner notes by Maxwell Chandler: The excitement of new works from Chico is not derived from any absence as he has not stopped, nor is it due to the curiosity factor of seeing what type of artistic phase he is entering into. He does not create in that manner or care about such things, bringing the best of what he has found with him even if only as a component to further his forward moving trajectory. The excitement is due to the knowledge that here is an addition to the oeuvre of an artist who is the rare to find, possessor of freedom derived equally from intellect and soul. Happy 90th Birthday Chico!!