Chico Hamilton

My Panamanian Friend is drummer Chico Hamilton's tribute to Eric Dolphy, played by his quartet Euphoria and released by Soul Note in 1994 with the subtitle The Music of Eric Dolphy. Seven of the nine tracks are Dolphy compositions, among them Miss Movement, Springtime, South Street Exit and Mandrake. Hamilton's own Eric's Time and the title piece, together under two minutes, open and close the disc.

The connection goes back to the late 1950s, when Dolphy was a member of Hamilton's group, the band that appears in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day. Here the horn and flute parts fall to Eric Person, on alto saxophone and flute, with Cary DeNigris on acoustic guitar and Kenny Davis on bass. Person and DeNigris had been with Hamilton in Euphoria for years before this session. The Dolphy pieces are given room: Mandrake runs close to ten minutes, Miss Ann nine, and Something Sweet, Something Tender and South Street Exit about eight each. A guitar quartet with flute in place of a second horn is a lighter frame than the bands Dolphy led, and it puts the melodies in the foreground. Ducale's listing also credits Person on soprano saxophone and keyboards and Hamilton on vocals.

This is the Soul Note CD 121265-2, first released in 1994.