OUR INVESTIGATION INTO the Ace jazz vaults produced a set of four fabulous reissues from the Dootone label on our revamped Boplicity label. Fresh digipak packaging and new transfers from the original master tapes mean any tracks used by the out of copyright brigade will have been taken off of our old CDs issued in the early 90s. The experiment has been so successful we have extended it to material first released on Modern’s Crown label in the early 60s.
Crown, Modern’s LP label, quickly became home for budget releases, with material snapped up from diverse sources. For their jazz albums they picked up sessions which appeared as new releases and some sold on by other labels.
CHICO HAMILTON, a native of Los Angeles, has become one of the most important drummers and band leaders in jazz. He made his name as part of the West Coast Jazz movement with the recordings of his pianoless trios and Quintets for Pacific Jazz in the mid-50s. The recordings with larger line-ups were often distinguished by their unusual front lines that used multi-instrumentalist reed players and the cello playing of Fred Katz. The first four tracks of the Crown album features trios recorded with Jim Hall or Howard Roberts on guitar. The next four titles feature a set of Katz compositions with reed player Paul Horn to the fore.
By Dean Rudland
