Chico Hamilton American Musician Quotations

Most people would be disappointed, myself particularly, if I were to come up with the sound of the early 'sixties, or of the 'fifties even.

Mentally and physically, I find I can play with these people.

You know, there are a lot of jazz players that aren't as contemporary as these young pop players are; they haven't kept up with it.

We incorporate various electronic devices - the echo plugs and things like that. Actually, all we're trying to do is make that sound musical. As opposed to just making sounds, we do musical things with them.

At Ronnie's, we had young kids who enjoyed it so much they came in every night. Something else - a lot of the old jazz diehards dug it, too.

I've changed my drumming considerably. I've had to, in order to play this way, in order to have a fulfilment with regard to the overall sound.

Coming out of the big bands, I started accompanying, and I guess that is what led up to it. Because I learned quite a bit, by being an accompanist.

That's what the name of the game is today: excitement. I'm not doing this just to please myself, although I do hope that it can become successful.

In fact, I had to make an enormous adjustment to this, not only in listening to it but in playing with it. It's a full sound. In some instances, you must have the volume to get the effect.

And it's impossible for me to have those players play with me at this stage of the game; all those guys are famous and, I suppose, wealthy now.