Scott Hamilton Quartet - Danish Ballads… & More

The Guardian 80

(Stunt)

A selection of Danish folk tunes, movie themes, cabaret songs and jazz numbers, played by a truly great tenor saxophonist. Scott Hamilton has been based in Europe (first London, now Florence) for around 20 years. He has his regular venues and can call on his favourite musicians wherever he goes. In this case it’s Hans Backenroth on bass, Kristian Leth, drums, and the phenomenal pianist Jan Lundgren. The same team made a splendid album of Swedish tunes a few years ago. I’ve just played them both and think this is perhaps slightly better.

They’ve come up with some really interesting and attractive pieces – not the obvious ones either. There’s Dansevise, Denmark’s entry in the 1963 Eurovision song contest, which comes out as a swinging jazz waltz, and the folk song whose title translates as In the Still of the Woods, reputed to have words by Hans Christian Andersen. It makes a beautiful slow ballad. I’ve rarely heard Hamilton play better. His style is often described as “timeless”, being full of echoes and memories of past masters, yet it is always fresh, alert and unmistakably his own.