Doug Hammond - Ellipse LP

"A composer, writer, percussionist, singer and coordinator, Doug Hammond was born in Tampa, Florida in 1942, the city where he cut his teeth in percussive studies with Don Templeton's Tampa Metropolitan Symphony, preparing for a career in classical music that he would never enter into. Instead, Hammond began a career that would eschew typification and stylistic categories, excelling at everything from blues to bop and free jazz. Though he may be most remembered as the composer and one of the vocalists of Mingus Moves, Hammond is much more than that. His journey began as a musician. Before his high school graduation, he was playing blues music with Barney Lowis and B.B. King, who went onto get him his first gigs sitting in with Earl Hooker. By the grace of pianist and vocalist Kitty Daniels, Hammond was inducted into jazz, at first playing with Andy 'Gump' Martin and then, upon graduation, The Five Royals, Little Willie John and Sam and Dave. Splitting his time between New York City and