Free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, composer, poet, producer and professor Doug Hammond (26 December 1942, Tampa, Florida) currently lives and works in Linz, Austria, where he was a professor at the Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama, and Dance.
As a Blake High student he played with blues and R&B bands in Tampa Bay. In Florida he performed with Earl Hooker, the 5 Royales, Little Willie John, and Sam & Dave. Invited to Detroit by Kirk Lightsey, Doug played with the Dorothy Ashby Trio, the Kirk Lightsey Trio, the Donald Byrd/Sonny Red Quintet, Chet Baker, and Focus Novii. He moved to New York and worked with James Blood Ulmer at Minton's Playhouse. Doug performed with Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Sam Rivers, Sonny Fortune and Lonnie Liston Smith. He formed the first trio in 1977 to accompany Pony Poindexter in Europe. Hammond hired Steve Coleman and Muneer Abdul Fatah for his trio in 1981. In 2010 Doug Hammond wrote and conducted "Acknowledgement Suite" with Dwight Adams, Jean Toussaint, Roman Filiú, Howard Curtis, Wendell Harrison, Dick Griffin, Stéphane Payen, Kirk Lightsey and Arron James.
We thank Doug for his contribution to silent solos − improvisers speak, an anthology of the poetry of 50 of todays most dynamic improvising musicians. An excerpt of Doug Hammond's wonderful poem "to see":
"Living this life brings Questions to be answered Through the truth in our hearts Without demons of past generations.
Cruelty is to teach the child To fear what was - without The true wisdom of the past. Faith cannot be enough reason To spoil the pure springs of young hearts.
Such offers only a life of hell Without experiencing heavenly truth ..."
Please feel invited to read the "Overdue Ovation" in 'Jazztimes' by Ted Panken:
Ovation to Doug Hammond
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