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Linley Hamilton

Linley is a jazz trumpet player, educator and broadcaster who lives in Ireland. He is also curator at Magy's Farm, a specialist jazz music venue in County Down that has hosted concerts by Jim Beard and Jon Herington, Paul Dunlea with Steve Hamilton, John Donegan Quintet, Seamus Blake and Bill Carrothers, Ari Hoenig, Tom Ollendorff and Conor Chaplin, Paul Booth Quintet and many more. He is also a Doctor of Jazz with specialist research in dynamic contouring as a partner to tension and release. Linley has 5 studio albums as leader:

Up to Now (2001)
Taylor Made (2011)
In Transition (2014)
Making other Arrangements (2018)
For the Record (2020)

He is getting ready to go into the studio to record no. 6 with Adam Nussbaum (drums), Mark Egan (bass), Cian Boylan (piano) and Derek DOC O'Connor (sax). Linley lectures music at Ulster University and hosts the jazz radio show Jazzworld with Linley Hamilton on BBC Radio Ulster

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6
Album Review

John Donegan - The Irish Sextet: Light Streams

Read "Light Streams" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Irish pianist John Donegan may not be a household name, but the Cork musician has walked with giants, playing with the likes of Art Blakey, Art Farmer, Barney Kessel and Ireland's own jazz great, guitarist Louis Stewart. He has also been on something of a roll with his Irish sextet, with Light Streams quickly following on the heels of Shadows Linger (Jayde Records, 2022). And with a third sextet album on the near horizon, Donegan is enjoying an Indian summer. ...

11
Album Review

Linley Hamilton: Ginger's Hollow

Read "Ginger's Hollow" reviewed by Ian Patterson


The follow-up to trumpeter Linley Hamilton's For The Record (Teddy D Records, 2020) has taken over three years to materialize, but when you consider what transpired globally in that time, just the act of picking up where he left off is something of a victory in itself. Talk about the difficult second album... Hamilton's trans-Atlantic quartet has its roots in the annual summer school/festival Sligo Jazz Project, where Hamilton, drummer Adam Nussbaum and bassist Mark Egan have all taught. The ...

16
Album Review

John Donegan - The Irish Sextet: Shadows Linger

Read "Shadows Linger" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Shadows Linger is the seventh album from veteran Irish pianist John Donegan, whose dedication to jazz dates back to the '70s when he played on the scenes of his native Cork and later Dublin, before moving across the pond to England. While in Dublin, Donegan worked with the Irish legends guitarist Louis Stewart and drummer John Wadham as well as tenor saxophonist Dick Buckley, whose saxophone-playing sons Richie Buckley and Michael Buckley feature here in a potent front-line which also ...

6
Album Review

Linley Hamilton Quintet: For The Record

Read "For The Record" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Linley Hamilton's fifth album is a cross-Atlantic affair. Alongside regular collaborators Cian Boylan and Derek 'Doc' O'Connor, the Irish trumpeter has enrolled the services of New York heavyweights Adam Nussbaum and Mark Egan--fellow instructors at the annual Sligo Jazz Project where Hamilton has long been a fixture. The quintet rounded off a short Northern Irish tour in 2019 with a session in Dublin's Camden Recording Studio which realized the music herein. As on Hamilton's Making Other Arrangements (Teddy D Records, ...

5
Album Review

Linley Hamilton: Making Other Arrangements

Read "Making Other Arrangements" reviewed by Ian Patterson


With albums like Taylor Made (Lyte Records, 2011) and In Transition (Lyte Records, 2014), trumpeter Linley Hamilton established himself as a virtuoso and bandleader of some note, surrounding himself with Ireland's finest established players while nurturing the island's best of the up-and-coming talent. With Making Other Arrangements (Teddy D Records, 2018) Hamilton enlists an eighteen-piece band featuring the strings of the twelve-piece Camden Orchestra on a set of classic tunes straddling the worlds of jazz, cinema and popular song. Employing ...

4
Album Review

Linley Hamilton: Making Other Arrangements

Read "Making Other Arrangements" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Making Other Arrangements has been a long time coming--over 25 years, since trumpeter and broadcaster Linley Hamilton first heard Freddie Hubbard's Ride Like The Wind and decided that one day he, too, would make an album with a large ensemble. It's been worth the wait. Hamilton's third album as leader is lush, romantic and beautifully performed. Based in Belfast, Hamilton is an important figure on the jazz scene of the island of Ireland, as a musician, lecturer and BBC radio ...

11
Interview

Linley Hamilton: Strings Attached

Read "Linley Hamilton: Strings Attached" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Nearly all recordings are labours of love. Passion and a huge amount of work are the essential ingredients. Some recordings in particular, however, mark the realization of a life-long dream. For Northern Irish trumpeter, BBC jazz broadcaster and university lecturer Linley Hamilton, Making Other Arrangements (Teddy D Records, 2018) is just such a recording. Backed by a cracking, small jazz ensemble--some of the finest musicians in Ireland--Hamilton has fulfilled a burning, career-long ambition by adding strings to songs ...

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'Hamilton's solo has an ethereal quality that conveys the vocal line'...London Jazz News 'The focus on superior original material'...The Jazz Mann 'Enjoyable proof that the hard bop flame is still burning brightly'...Irish Times 'A band that readily communicates the fun they had in the studio'...Jazz Journal
Primary Instrument

Trumpet

Location

Belfast

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Dr of Jazz Performance Ulster University Available online

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ginger's Hollow

Whirlwind Recordings
2023

buy

Light Streams

Jayde Records
2023

buy

Shadows Linger

Jayde Records
2022

buy

For The Record

Teddy D Records
2020

buy

Making Other...

Teddy D Records
2018

buy

In Transition

Lyte Records
2014

buy

Videos

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