LEGENDARY DRUMMER CHICO HAMILTON A SMASH ON MySPACE; NEW ALBUM ‘HERITAGE’ RELEASED

Legendary drummer and NEA Jazzmaster, Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton, and label, Joyous Shout, have announced today a remix contest on Chico's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/chicohamilton. The drummer's fans can download unique beats picked by Chico, remix them and post them back on MySpace where Chico will pick his favorite tracks that will be posted on his MySpace website. The MySpace event and some surprise celebrity remixes will coincide with Chico's 85th birthday and a special birthday performance at Joe's Pub in New York City on September 21 at 9:30 pm.

With 85 years under his belt and 7+ decades making great music, Chico is a unique presence on MySpace where the demographic generally skews much younger. To date, Chico has amassed over 5,000 "friends" on his MySpace page and his label is using the site in innovative ways to increase that number. As the meeting place and music discovery venue of choice for the under-30 set, MySpace is also providing an arena for older artists like Chico to reach younger fans on whose radar they might not ordinarily be "As a musician, Chico has always been ahead of his time," notes Hamilton's long-time personal manager, Jeffrey Andrew Caddick. "His music is classic and definitely appeals to a broad range of fans. With MySpace, we're just using the latest and greatest technology to get the word out to even more folks and the response has been great."

Considering that Chico was born in 1921, it's fascinating to think that he's seen the advent of every new technology dedicated to entertaining the masses. From radio to television and film, 78s to 33 LPs, 8-tracks to cassettes, and now, the digital format of CDs and the Internet, Chico's music has been released in that format. Not too many artists can make that claim today, but Chico embraces it.

"You know, music is God's will," Chico explains. "Music has to find its way out there and any way I can do that, I'm gonna do that. Really music hasn't changed at all, it's the same 12 bars it's been for thousands of years. The only thing that's changed is how it gets to the people." In addition to turning 85 in 2006, Chico Hamilton has released three albums (Juniflip, Believe, 6th Avenue Romp) with a fourth, Heritage, scheduled for release on September 19, 2006.