Andy Hamilton: Ladywood Legend
Nompumelelo Ncube
Project Researcher & Co-Producer
Two prominent community resources in Ladywood have a link to the jazz musician Andy Hamilton.
Ladywood Leisure Centre is the current home to The Notebenders Big Band: a welcoming community of musicians who are based in Ladywood. (More on The Notebenders later!).
The nearby Ladywood Community Centre is the home to Ladywood Community School of Music. Both are linked to the huge presence and legacy of Andy Hamilton. But who was Andy Hamilton?
Andy Hamilton was a renowned saxophonist who was born in Port Maria, Jamaica, who was unconsciously on a mission to make music accessible to all. His passion for music has unified and built-up communities in Ladywood and further afield in Birmingham.
Jazz is such a diasporic sound for the Black community, with each artist echoing their roots and heritage; artists from the Americas like Louis Armstrong, Nate King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald each have their specific sound.
In South Africa, artists infused jazz with local influences. Zenzile Miriam Makeba – also known as Mama Africa – mixed her artistry with activism, advocating for Black lives during the apartheid using music. Andy Hamilton created his jazz with influences from the Caribbean, the US, and Birmingham.
Andy was innately collaborative and from as early as his childhood when he formed a singing group; he was well versed with brass instruments and played the trombone and tuba with a Salvation Army band before his father helped him buy a tenor saxophone.
His career as a saxophonist led him to America where he had jazz residencies in Buffalo and Syracuse in New York. Before migrating to the UK in 1949, Hollywood megastar Errol Flynn asked him to play music on his famous yacht Zaca; Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was one of his most avid listeners during this period.
