Born May 25, 1917 in Dillon, South Carolina, Jimmy Hamilton was a jazz clarinetist and saxophonist best known for his work with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he learned to play brass instruments as well as piano. In the 1930s, he was playing brass in local bands before focusing on clarinet and saxophone. He played alongside Lucky Millinder, Bill Doggett, and Jimmy Mundy in 1939 before joining the Teddy Wilson Sextet the following year. He left Wilson’s band in 1942 and played with Yank Porter and Eddie Heywood before replacing Barney Bigard in Duke Ellington’s orchestra in 1943. Hamilton played in Ellington’s band for the next 25 years but still managed to release his albums as a leader including Clarinet in High Fi (1955), Jimmy Hamilton and the New York Jazz Quintet (1956), Can’t Help Swinging (1961) and In a Sentimental Mood (1963). When he left Ellington in 1968, he spent time as a freelance player and arranger before he focused on teaching music in the 1970s and 1980s in the Virgin Islands. Jimmy Hamilton died on September 20, 1994 at the age of 77.
