The Nat Steele Quintet featuring Scott Hamilton "Plays the Music of John Lewis and the MJQ"

 

Scott Hamilton, tenor sax

Nat Steele, vibes

Matyas Gayer, piano

Dave Green, bass

Steve Brown, drums

 

Nat Steele Quintet featuring Scott Hamilton; MJQ And More.

 

This is the followup to Nat's hugely successful album launch last year, which featured Scott in Nat's quintet celebrating the music of John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet. This time they'll be playing some of the album repertoire, mixed in with some new standards and arrangements, played with Scott's inimitable sense of class and swing.

 

Scott grew up with John Lewis (musical director of the MJQ) as a family friend, and later came to work with him regularly. Scott had always wanted to record tunes like Django and in particular, Milano, with a vibraphonist. When he heard Nat's last album, he decided that he wanted to do it with him, and this new project is the fruit of that collaboration. It features a mixture of nifty arrangements of tunes by or associated with Lewis, Milt Jackson or the MJQ, including (aside from those already mentioned) Afternoon in Paris, Bags' Groove, Confirmation (as recorded by Ben Webster with the MJQ!), Somewhere Over The Rainbow, The Cylinder, Lover, and others. It features Matyas Gayer on piano (whose latest album was included in The Times "Top 10 Albums of 2025"), Dave Green on bass (who also worked with Lewis, and separately with Milt Jackson in the 70s), and UK jazz-club favourite Steve Brown on drums.