Hamilton's Hard Bop Quintet Steps Forward
A major band playing advanced hard bop that occasionally edges toward the avant-garde.
Passin' Thru announces itself with lean, purposeful energy. Chico Hamilton's drums crack and simmer rather than thunder, giving the quintet room to breathe. The interplay between George Bohanon's trombone and Charles Lloyd's woodwinds — sometimes saxophone, sometimes flute — creates a conversational texture that feels modern without sounding precious. Gábor Szabó's guitar plays sharp, angular lines, and Albert Stinson's bass anchors everything with quiet authority. The overall sound is hard bop with edges, occasionally hinting toward freer territory but never abandoning structure.
This was Hamilton's debut for Impulse!, his fifth quintet, and the band was genuinely adventurous. Unlike some of his earlier work, which leaned toward cooler sophistication, this lineup embraced a harder, more urgent aesthetic. The compositions drive forward with momentum, and there's a restless quality to how these five musicians communicate—they're not content to simply state a theme and solo over changes. The rhythm section constantly adjusts and prods, and the horns respond with invention rather than predictability.
AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow rated the album 4½ stars and called it a major band—a fair assessment. This is the place to hear this particular Hamilton group, and it remains one of his strongest statements on record. The music holds up because it was never trying to be timeless or definitive; it was just five excellent musicians playing with conviction in 1962, and that conviction still reads clearly.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Chico Hamilton
All 30 albums →
The musicians on this record
Gypsy '66 1966
Gabor Szabo
plays guitar here
plays guitar here
Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd At Monterey 1966
Charles Lloyd
plays woodwind here
plays woodwind here
