El Chico (Verve Vault)

Already a noted bandleader after logging time as a sideman for Count Basie, Lester Young, Lena Horne and others, drummer Chico Hamilton found himself at the crossroads of stylistic expansion on 1966's El Chico. The album came at a time when the sound of bossa nova galvanized jazz listeners, and Hamilton reacted in his own unique way, incorporating the sound of the genre alongside his own avant-garde touches. Hamilton's line-up, Jimmy Cheatham on trombone, Sadao Watanabe on alto saxophone, guitarist Gábor Szabó, bassist Albert Stinson, and Willie Bobo and Victor Pantoja augmenting Hamilton on percussion, gives the album its vivid character, combining melodic openness with richly layered rhythm and texture.