Scott Hamilton, The Laverton Hall, Westbury 18/1/2022

Scott Hamilton.

To be quite honest, I had never heard of Scott Hamilton until yesterday afternoon, but I am pleased I discovered his music. Purely by chance I saw on a local internet group that there was a gig on at The Laverton in Westbury. I didn’t know what to expect but thought I would go along because, apart from going to the shops I hadn’t been out of the house all year. The concert started at 7.30. It was a tiny but appreciative audience of about 40 people seated at a few tables. I liked that in a way. It added to a nice intimate atmosphere. Scott Hamilton is an American tenor saxophone jazz player who was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1954. He moved to New York in the early 1970s and got his first break after meeting Roy Eldridge. He played with Benny Goodman’s band into the 1980s and recorded and toured with Rosemary Clooney among many others. In an illustrious career he has made over 40 albums. He was joined in Westbury by the John Pearce Trio.  

John Pearce.

John Pearce is a wonderful piano player, skilful and lyrical. Dave Green is a virtuoso on double bass. He was a childhood friend of Charlie Watts and played in the Charlie Watts Quintet in the 1990s and has accompanied some of the greatest names in jazz, such as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roland Kirk and Sonny Rollins. Steve Brown on drums comes from Manchester originally, but moved to London where he became one of the most sought-after drummers on the jazz scene. He seems to be quite a character because he didn’t stop grinning all evening. Scott Hamilton is an exponent of Swing and Mainstream jazz. There is nothing avant-garde or experimental in his playing. He gives the sound of the tenor sax a warm delicate melodious touch. I don’t know the titles of all the pieces he played because he didn’t tell us what they all were, so I’ll just tell you what I remember. 

Dave Green.

The opening number was called Diane and came from a film of 1927 called Seventh Heaven. He played a tune composed by Buck Clayton which I think was called Swinging At The Kodera, or something like that. He also told an amusing story about a venue in New York called the Metropole Café on 7^th Avenue & 48^th Street. I think the piece I enjoyed most of the whole evening was called Pure Imagination and was written by Anthony Newley for the film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. When I got home, I looked for this tune on Youtube and found a video of Scott playing it. I shared it to this page if you want to hear it. Along Came Betty written by Benny Colson is another number worth searching for. Scott asked the audience if they had any requests, and somebody suggested Smile which as you know was written by Charlie Chaplin. Scott played it beautifully. Early in the concert they played a tune with a Latin type of flavour which I also enjoyed, but I can’t remember what it was called now. 

Steve Brown.

At the end Scott thanked the organiser of the evening Maggie Atterbury for inviting him. I would like to thank her as well. Well done, Maggie, we need more evenings like this in Westbury. It is nice after nearly two years of Covid for people to be able to see some live music again. Thank you to Scott Hamilton and the John Pearce Trio as well. Westbury is privileged to have such wonderful talented musicians play here.