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Chico Hamilton – Phantom Dancer 22 Dec 2020

CHRISTMAS

Chico Hamilton and his Quartet spread Christmas cheer on this week’s non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV – The Phantom Dancer – with Greg Poppleton.

LISTEN

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online after the 22 December 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.

Chico Hamilton gretsch drums

CHICO HAMILTON

American jazz drummer and bandleader, Chico Hamilton came to prominence as sideman for Lester YoungGerry MulliganCount Basie, and Lena Horne.

Hamilton became a bandleader with a quintet featuring the cello as a lead instrument, which you’ll hear on this Phantom Dancer from a 1958 broadcast. Later, he lead bands that performed cool jazzpost bop, and jazz fusion.

Hamilton started his career in a band with Charles MingusIllinois JacquetErnie RoyalDexter GordonBuddy Collette and Jack Kelso before he had finished high school.

Engagements with Lionel HamptonSlim & SlamT-Bone WalkerLester YoungCount BasieDuke EllingtonCharlie BarnetBilly EckstineNat King ColeSammy Davis Jr.Billie HolidayGerry Mulligan and Lena Horne established his career.

He appeared in You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) as part of the backing group supporting Fred Astaire. Hamilton also performed on the soundtrack of the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope film Road to Bali (1952).

Chico Hamilton drums

ALBUMS

He recorded his first album as leader in 1955 with George Duvivier (double bass) and Howard Roberts (jazz guitar) for Pacific Jazz. In the same year Hamilton formed an unusual quintet in L.A. featuring cello, flute/saxes/clarinet, guitarbass and drums. The quintet has been described as one of the last important West Coast jazz bands.

A version of the quintet including flutist Paul Horn was featured in the film Sweet Smell of Success in 1957 and one including Eric Dolphy appeared in the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1960), set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

Hamilton revamped his group in 1961 with Charles LloydGabor SzaboGeorge Bohanon and Albert Stinson, playing what has been described as chamber jazz, with “a moderate avant-gardism.”

The group recorded for ColumbiaReprise and Impulse Records and also recorded the soundtrack for the industrial film Litho in 1962, the first American film to be shown behind the Iron Curtain. Hamilton formed a commercial and film production company in 1965, and went on to score the feature films Repulsion (1965), Mr. Ricco (1975), Coonskin (1975), By Design (1982), the television programs Portrait of Willie Mays and Gerald McBoing Boing, and scored hundreds of commercials for TV and radio.

In 1986 Hamilton formed his sextet Chico Hamilton and the Young Alto’s featuring Kenneth LamplEric Person and Marc Bernstein. The group performed at the 1986 JVC Jazz Festival, the Apollo Theater, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

He released Twelve Tones of Love on Joyous Shout! in 2009. In March 2011, he had a long recording session, resulting in 28 new tracks with his Euphoria group. Following a health setback in 2010, he and the group began weekly rehearsals at Hamilton’s Penthouse A; which brought together the material which would comprise Revelation, an 11-track CD, released in 2011.

22 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream
Community Radio Network Show CRN #468

107.3 2SER Tuesday 22 December 2020
12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm
National Program
5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am
3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am
4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am
2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am
2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm
2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm
3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm
7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm
1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am
2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm
5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm
7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am
3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm

Set 1
Let’s Dance (theme) + Jingle Bells
Benny Goodman Orchestra
Joseph Urban Room
Congress Hotel
WMAQ NBC Red Chicago
25 Dec 1935
Open + It Had To Be You + The Fairy On The Christmas Tree
Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra (voc) The 3 Sisters
BBC Regional Service
London
25 Dec 1936
Set 2
Open + Maple Leaf Rag
Kid Ory
Club Hangover
KCBS CBS San Francisco
25 Dec 1954
Theme + Blue Christmas
Jan Garber Orchestra (voc) Ray Cordell
Melody Mill
WGN Chicago
1950
Weary Blues + Ad
Kid Ory
Club Hangover
KCBS CBS San Francisco
25 Dec 1954
Set 3
Jingle Bells (open) + The Morning After
Chico Hamilton Quartet
‘Stars In Jazz’
AFRTS Re-broadcast
New York
25 Dec 1958
Wrap your Troubles In Dreams
Chico Hamilton Quartet (voc) Georgia Carr
‘Stars In Jazz’
AFRTS Re-broadcast
New York
25 Dec 1958
Blee Blop Blues + One O’Clock Jump (theme)
Count Basie Orchestra
Birdland
WRCA NBC NY
16 Dec 1956
Set 4
Happy Holidays + Here We Come a’Caroling + Silent Night
Bing Crosby and the Norman Luboff Choir (voc) Paul Weston Orchestra
‘Christmas Sing With Bing’
KNX CBS LA
24 Dec 1957
Description of Ballarat’s Carols By Candlelight + Joseph Mine, Help Me Cradle The Child Divine
Ted Furlong (station manager 3BA Ballarat) + The Ballarat YWCA Choir
Christmas Sing With Bing’
KNX CBS LA
via 3BA Ballarat
24 Dec 1957
Champagne Cocktail + Close (When Summer Is Gone)
Hal Kemp Orchestra
‘Chesterfield Time’
KNX CBS LA
24 Dec 1937
Set 5
Open + March of the Toy Soldiers
Phil Davis Orchestra
‘Fountain of Fun’
WLW Cinncinnati
19 Dec 1943
Jingle Bells
 Thrasher Sisters
‘Fountain of Fun’
WLW Cinncinnati
19 Dec 1943
Jack-Armstrong Blues
Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
25 Dec 1947
Embraceable You
 The Pied Pipers (voc) Harry James Orchestra
‘Command Performance USA’
AFRS
25 Dec 1945
Set 6
Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells
Fats Waller and his Rhythm
Comm Rec
New York
29 Nov 1936
Jingle Bells
Glenn Miller Orchestra
Café Rouge
Hotel Pennsylvania
WJZ NBC Blue NY
27 Dec 1941
Jingle Bells
Dave Brubeck
Birdland
WABC ABC NY
Jan 1954
Jingle Bells (theme) / Half Nelson / White Christmas / Little Willie Leaps
Charlie Parker (as) Kenny Dorham (tp) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Max Roach (d)
‘Symphony Side Show’
Royal Roost
WMCA NY
25 Dec 1948
Set 7
Open + March of the Toys
Phil Davis Orchestra
‘Fountain of Fun’
WLW Cincinnati
19 Dec 1943
My Silent Love
Lena Horne (voc) Count Basie Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
25 Dec 1945
Embraceable You
The Pied Pipers (voc) Harry James and the Music Makers
‘Command Performance USA’
AFRS Hollywood
25 Dec 1945
Yesterdays
Art Tatum (p)
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
25 Dec 1947
Set 8
Open + 2 Latin American Christmas Songs
Chiquita
‘Chiquita’
AFRS Hollywood
Dec 1946
O Come All Ye Faithful / Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem / It Came Upon A Midnight Clear / Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Frank Sinatra
‘V-Disc Christmas Selections’
New York
1944
Open + Let It Snow + Happy Christmas, Little Friend
Dinah Shore (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra
‘Dinah Shore Show’
WRCA NBC NY
22 Dec 1954

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

Thank you.

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