Scott Hamilton • In The Still Of The Night

At this point in time, it would not be surprising if tenor-saxophonist Scott Hamilton was running out of inspiration along with new songs to explore. He burst upon the scene in the mid-1970s, helping launch the comeback of small-group swing. His sound was fully developed by then along with his style and he has never veered from that course, leading nearly 100 albums of his own in addition to appearing on many others as a sideman. All of his recordings are at least excellent.

That is certainly true of In The Still Of The Night which was recorded on Sept. 16-17, 2024. Hamilton, who has long lived in Europe, is joined by pianist Bernhard Pichl, bassist Rudi Engel, and drummer Michael Keul (his rhythm section on a half-dozen previous recordings) plus on some songs the excellent vibraphonist Tizian Jost. The group performs a few swing standards (including “Time On My Hands” and “In The Still Of The Night”) and swinging renditions of songs from such 1950s modernists as John Lewis (“Django”), Milt Jackson, Lucky Thompson, Hank Jones (“Angel Face,” a superior ballad that deserves to be played more often), Mal Waldron (“Soul Eyes”), and Sonny Rollins (“Why Don’t I”). The music swings with spirit at every tempo, Jost and Pichl take many rewarding solos, and the rhythm section clearly inspires the great tenor who plays with particular warmth on the closing ballad ”If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You.”

Even after 50 years of recordings, Scott Hamilton never coasts or rests on his laurels. In The Still Of The Night is his latest in a very long list of musical accomplishments.

Scott Hamilton • In The Still Of The Night
GLM EC628
www.glm.de

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.