Jeff Hamilton, Drums, 1953, Richmond, IN
Jeff concentrated on the snare drum for a few years before learning to play the full set. While a music student at Indiana University, jeff became involved with jazz, and was able to study with John Von Ohlen in Indianapolis. He later became a member of the New Tommy Dorsey band, directed by Murray McEachern, and worked briefly with Lionel Hampton. He later spent several years with Monty Alexander's trio before going with Woody Herman where he remained until early 1978 when he replaced Shelly Manne with the L.A. Four. Hamilton is equally at ease with sticks or brushes ,and works proficiently in several styles of music besides jazz, including rock, Caribbean music, and Latin music; some of his recordings include his own arrangements.
Louis Armstrong, Trumpet, 1901, New Orleans, LA
Louis Armstrong was the greatest, the Ambassador of Jazz. To this day, everyone loves Satchmo. He was brought up in deep povert in New Orleans. His family consisted of his sister and his mother, Mayann, a domestic and probably a part-time prostitute. His father, a laborer, left when Louis was an infant. The first few years of his life were spent with his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong. He grew up in "Black Storyville", where he was exposed to the new music emerging from ragtime. His first musical performance was as a singer in a barbershop quartet. This was probably an excellent course in ear training. It was on a New Years Eve that Louis was celebrating with a pistol that he had taken from his stepfather's jacket, shooting it into the air, when he was arrested and finally sent to the Home For Colored Waifs. Here he was taught to play the cornet and became a member of the school's award- winning band. He played customary band music; marches, rags, and music of the day. He was released after two years, and by now he knew he wanted to be a musician. Using borrowed instruments, he began sitting in at honky-tonks and anyplace else where there was music. Eventually he came to the attention of Joe "King" Oliver, the leading black trumpeter and band leader in New Orleans. Oliver provided him the opportunity to play in public and to develop his musical personality. When Oliver left for Chicago, Louis went to work for Kid Ory, another famous bandleader of the day. Eventually Louis also left New Orleans and began working the riverboats and playing in clubs and joints all over the Mid West. It was during this period that Armstrong really developed into the great musician he was. In 1922 he joined Oliver's band, playing second cornet, and in 1924 he married the band's pianist, Lil Harden, (He later married Alpha Smith and then Lucille Wilson). By this time Louis had a large following of his own, and at Lil's urging, he left Oliver, and they moved to New York where he went to work for Fletcher Henderson. In New York he quickly became known as the pre-eminent exponent of the new hot music. Louis was now famous. He worked with the leading people in music and in the most prominent venues in the country. In 1932 and 1933 he made his first visits to Europe playing to big audiences. From 1935, Armstrong fronted the Luis Russell orchestra, surpassing the talents of lead trumpeter, Henry "Red" Allen. He divorced Hardin in 1938, and married Alpha Smith. However, by 1942 he had married again, this time to Lucille Wilson, who survived him. The swing era seemed to pass Armstrong by, and by the early '40s his musical style was out of vogue. His manager, Joe Glaser, formed a new band made up of "stars", called Louis Armstrong And His All Stars. With the All Stars, Armstrong toured worldwide with barely a night off, occasionally playing clubs and festivals but most often filling concert halls with plenty of fans. The first All Stars included Jack Teagarden, Barney Bigard, Earl Hines and "Big" Sid Catlett. Regulars for many years were bassist Arvell Shaw and singer Velma Middleton. They toured extensively to Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America for the next 20 years until Louis' failing health caused them to disband. Armstrong became known as America's Ambassador. However, time inevitably took its toll and when Armstrong's powerful lip weakened, he started singing. His voice was the perfect instrument for jazz; throaty, lazy-sounding, with perfect timing and a great sense of rhythm. He was also one of the first performers to sing scat (although he always claimed that he began scatting when the sheet music for "Heebie Jeebies" fell on the floor during a 1926 recording session, and he had to improvise the words). It was as a singer and entertainer, rather than as a trumpet star, that Armstrong became a world figure, known to tens of millions of people of all nationalities and religions, who loved him in a way that he could never have imagined. In 1963 Armstrong scored a huge international hit with his version of "Hello Dolly." It even knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts. In 1968 he recorded another number one hit with "What A Wonderful World." Armstrong's was hospitalized several times during his life, but continued playing and recording. On July 6th 1971 the world's greatest Jazz musician died in his sleep at his home in Queens, New York. Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. Only Charlie Parker comes close to having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did. He was born and raised in and around the notorious Storyville district. His exact date of birth only became known in the '90s, although for many years he claimed it was July 4, a date which was both patriotic and easy to remember and, as some have suggested, might have exempted him from the army. .
Terri Lyne Carrington, Drums, 1965, Medford, MS
Tetti developed a reputation as a child prodigy, jamming with jazz veterans Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Joe Williams, and many others. At age seven she was given her first set of drums, which had belonged to her grandfather, who had played with Fats Waller and Chu Berry. After studying privately for three years, Terri played at the Wichita Jazz Festival with Clark Terry. Shortly afterwards, at age eleven, she received a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music where she started playing with such musicians as Kevin Eubanks, Mike Stern, Greg Osby, and others. She also studied with master drum instructor Alan Dawson, and made a private recording entitled, TLC and Friends, with Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, George Coleman, and her dad. She did all this before turning 17. Throughout high school Terri traveled across the country doing clinics at schools and colleges, and in 1963, encouraged by her mentor, Jack DeJohnette, moved to New York and started working with Stan Getz, James Moody, Lester Bowie, Cassandra Williams, and David Sanborn. In 1989 Terri moved to Los Angeles and became the drummer on the Arsenio Hall show. She also continued to tour and record with many major jazz musicians. Recently she has concentrated on writing and producing for various artists, including Gino Vannelli, Dianne Reeves, Siedah Garrett, and Marilyn Scott. Her latest solo CD, "Jazz is a Spirit", (March 2002), has enjoyed considerable media attention in Europe and Japan.
