Everything about Andy Hamilton Saxophonist totally explained
Andy Raphael Thomas Hamilton MBE (born
26 March 1918) is a
Jamaican-born
British jazz saxophonist and
composer.
Hamilton was born in
Port Maria, Jamaica, and learnt to play saxophone on a
bamboo instrument. he formed his first band at the age of eighteen, influenced by
American musicians such as
Duke Ellington and
Count Basie and by the
Kingston-based bands of
Redver Cook and
Roy Coburn.
He spent some time in the U.S., working as a cook and farm labourer, but also having short jazz residencies in
Buffalo and
Syracuse, New York. After returning to Jamaica, he worked as musical arranger for
Errol Flynn on his yacht the
Zaka.
Hamilton emigrated to the UK in 1949, living and working in
Birmingham. His day job was in a factory, while at night he played jazz — with his own group, the Blue Notes, with visiting musicians such as
Art Farmer and
David Murray, and with his sons Graeme and Mark (trumpet and saxophones respectively).
At the age of seventy-three, Hamilton made his first
album as leader,
Silvershine on World Circuit Records; it became the biggest selling UK Jazz Album of the Year,
The Times Jazz Album of the Year, and one of the fifty Sony Recordings of the Year. It was followed three years later in 1994 by a live album,
Jamaica at Night. He continues to play regularly at the Bearwood Corks Club in Birmingham, appears on albums from World Circuit as guest musician, and is working on a new album of his own compositions.
In 1996 Hamilton was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts degree by the University of Central England (now
Birmingham City University), and in 1999 he received a Millennium Fellowship for his work in Community Education (which has involved the establishment of
The Ladywood Community School of Music, supported by the Millennium Commission).
He was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2008 New Year Honours.
On 30th January 2008 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the
Birmingham Conservatoire during a ceremony at
Symphony Hall.
Discography as leader
- 1991: Silvershine (World Circuit)
- 1994: Jamaica by Night (World Circuit)
Sources and external links
Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
Andy Hamilton
— brief biography by John Bush for All Music Guide
Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes — Bearwood Corks Club page
"My life of Jazz" — BBC page
Further Information
Get more info on 'Andy Hamilton Saxophonist'.
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