It's Hammer time !

Tonight I heard Diana Krall and her quartet perfrom at Massey Hall in Toronto. I originally had a ticket to see Charlie Haden's Quartet West last week (which I was very, very much looking forward to - I heard them in Calgary last summer and they were outstanding, especially Rodney Green on drums) but the show was cancelled so I used my credit to see Krall instead.

I probably would have opted to see Brad Mehldau or Ornette Coleman next fall, but I'm moving back to Calgary very soon and wanted to use my ticket credit before I leave.

However...the ever musical and hard swinging Jeff Hamilton was playing drums with Diana Krall's band and he swung hard and gave it his all from the very first note. It was awesome.

His sense of swing, great touch on his cymbals and, of course, his impeccable brush work was really something else. My seat was in the front row of the balcony, directly stage left - so I had the best seat in the house (for a drummer!) and had a perfect and unobstructed view of Hamilton's drumming. Every nuance, cymbal tap and brush stroke. It was like a drum lesson.

Here's a few videos that I came across that show what a swinging monster Jeff Hamilton is on the drums:

And don't forget about the limited edition, Jeff Hamilton "Man of Action" action figure !

(credit goes to Kristin Korb for this one...)