JAMAICAN JAZZ musician Andy Hamilton will celebrate his 84th birthday on March 26, with a jazz party at his home in Birmingham, England, where he has resided for the past 53 years.
A fitting tribute to the man who says music has been at the centre of his existence from early exposure at church in the Port Maria community where he was born and later practising at the family piano, a Jamaica Information Service release said.
"Music was my first choice. I used to have my own vocal group and I had joined the Salvation Army and I taught myself to play the coronet and anything I got my hands on I made into instruments," he said.
A visit with his father to a Montague music store in Kingston in the early 1930s had a lasting impact on young Andy and it was also the start of a lifelong friendship with noted Jamaican musician Sonny Bradshaw.
"I met Sonny Bradshaw when he worked in the music store. I still owe him seven and sixpence for some orchestration..." he laughs.
The arrangement was called 'Old Shanty Town' and was used by Hamilton and his first band 'Silvershine'. His experience with a band came from his early involvement with the Salvation Army scouts, where he played in the brass band.
During the war, he went to Buffalo in New York where he worked for several months. However, he had to return to Jamaica owing to urgent family concerns where he reformed his band and started playing at the Titchfield Hotel in Port Antonio, Portland.
In the late 1940s, Hamilton met Hollywood actor Errol Flynn and for the next two years he worked as Flynn's musical director and in 1948 composed the tune Silvershine.
In 1949, Hamilton left Jamaica for England where he settled in Birmingham and formed the band, 'The Carib Blue Notes'.
Life in Birmingham in the 1950s was not easy for the wave of new emigrants to Britain and Hamilton suffered his fair share of problems with racism in getting work and accommodation. He was attacked by racist thugs at one of the weekend social dance events he had been organising in the city.
"In those days, black people had very few places to go for socialisations. My friends and me would organise dances and other social events at the Victoria Restaurant. People would come from all over, from Manchester and even London, it was a good scene," he recalls.
That encounter with violence did not daunt him however, as he continued to organise sessions across the city. He became well known for providing after-show entertainment for American bands such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington and the West Indian cricket teams in the 1950s.
His band spent a lot of time and energy raising money for social causes, including hurricane and flood relief in Jamaica, the Commonwealth Society for the Blind and community charities in Birmingham. The band also became a major focal point for the minority community in Birmingham.
His long time friend and bandmate, Ron 'Sam Brown' Daley credits Andy Hamilton's social gathering as being instrumental in bringing about social change and integration to Birmingham.
"There is not a black man in this country that has contributed so much to social integration," Mr. Daley states.
Married with 10 children and 27 grandchildren, Hamilton has become a local celebrity in Birmingham and he regularly plays at civic functions and night-clubs for people from all ages and backgrounds.
In 1990 at the age of 72, Hamilton released his first album called "Silvershine". It received universal acclaim and became the biggest selling UK Jazz Album of the Year. His second album "Jamaica by Night" was released in 1994.
Hamilton and his band have performed at jazz festivals in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Italy, Spain, Germany, and have represented the City of Birmingham and Britain at several events across Europe.
He was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts degree by Birmingham University in 1996. In 1998, the Birmingham City Council awarded him the Freedom of the City award, in 1999 he was presented with a Millennium Fellowship for his work in Community Education and the Institute of Jamaican Nationals honoured him in 1993.
Hamilton still performs regularly and continues to teach his craft. Over the past few years he has been working to set up a music school in the Ladywood Community, where he lives. He has already received some funding towards this project from the Millennium Commission in Birmingham.
