Jeff Hamilton Trio LIVE IN THE LOUNGE at Ebell of Los Angeles Friday, October 23, 2015

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The legendary Jeff Hamilton Trio will be LIVE IN THE LOUNGE at the Ebell of Los Angeles Friday, October 23, 2015.

Jeff Hamilton has been named Best Jazz Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine, played with Jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, and Diana Krall and toured internationally with Oscar Peterson and the Ray Brown Trio. He co-leads the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, which performed recently at Lincoln Center.  The Jeff Hamilton Trio, which includes the captivating Tamir Hendelman (piano) and the remarkable Christoph Luty (bass), has performed around the world for over a decade. They will share some songs from their latest album, entitled Great American Songs Through the Years. With its creative arrangements of standards and original compositions, this versatile deeply swinging trio sets the bar.

“A lot of piano trios are the piano player out front, with the bass player and the drummer sweeping up behind the piano. My trio has three equal parts. All parts are needed at all times. We’re always aware of everybody on the bandstand,” said Hamilton in an interview published in the Buzz on his last Ebell engagement in January 2104.

Hamilton got his start on the high-end of the jazz circuit at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976, where he played with Monty Alexander and John Clayton. “It was pretty phenomenal, coming from Richmond, Indiana and playing in the Alps with an audience so in touch with the music.”

Other career highlights, he says, “include playing with people I set out to play with, like Oscar Peterson. The first night on the bandstand with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown at the Hollywood Bowl, July 7, 1990, there was the realization that every note was important and 100% was given to every beat, even on the ballads. Nothing had ever quite felt like that musically before.”

Hamilton performed numerous times with Ella Fitzgerald, whom he calls “fantastic to play with. She was always to me the eternal 16-year-old, naïve, very humble vocalist who would always ask every night, ‘Was that okay, fellows?’ And you’re backstage going, ‘Are you kidding? You’re Ella Fitzgerald!’”

These artists, as well as Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton and others, contributed to Hamilton’s growth as an artist. “I learned from the great Woody Herman how to let the band evolve and let the players become what they’re going to become – with some guidance, but just letting them grow. From Lionel Hampton I learned the love of being on the stage – you couldn’t get him off. He would play all night and wear the band out, but he’d still be going on like the Eveready bunny. They made me feel like I belonged, so that was very rewarding.”

LIVE IN THE LOUNGE features live musical performances in an intimate nightclub setting in the Lounge of the historic Ebell of Los Angeles Clubhouse. Designed by architect Sumner Hunt, the clubhouse is part of a magnificent 75,000 square foot Italian Renaissance-style Ebell complex that also houses The Wilshire Ebell Theatre and a garden. In addition to the Lounge , the clubhouse includes exquisite public rooms, an auditorium, library, and Art salon. It is a Los Angles Cultural Historic Monument, on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been designated “One of America’s Treasures.”

Unlike other music venues, Live In the Lounge at the Ebell does not have a drink minimum although there is a cash bar for those who are so inclined. Free snacks, no tax, and free parking, along with the extraordinary setting and fabulous acoustics and music, all add up to a very special evening LIVE IN THE LOUNGE at the Ebell of Los Angeles.

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