Ross Hammond

Ross Hammond (born August 10, 1977 in Lexington, Kentucky) is a jazz guitarist, composer, improviser, and concert promoter. He's the co-founder of the In the Flow Jazz and Improvisational Music Festival, which has been held annually in Sacramento, California since 2008.

Hammond was born August 10, 1977, in Lexington, Kentucky. He moved to Sacramento when he was 10 years old. Hammond started playing guitar – a gift from his mother – at age 12. He wanted to play drums, but his mother advocated for the more portable guitar. Like many young guitarists, Hammond started playing funk and soul and rock music in high school. He graduated from Christian Brothers High School in 1995.

Hammond then attended California State University Sacramento, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication in 1999. "I was taking lessons from a really good guitar teacher named Jim Beeler, and he introduced me to Kenny Burrell and Grant Green and Wes Montgomery and Mark Whitfield. It was a step further than what I was already doing." While studying at CSUS, Hammond started a band called Chile Palmer.

Hammond's recording career as a leader began in 2003 with the release of the trio recording Gauche. Hammond returned to the studio many times during the decade, as evidenced by his subsequent trio recordings Optimism (2004) and Sometimes Nocturnal (2005). He also released Ross Hammond’s Teakayo Mission (2007), Duets (2008), and Effective Use of Space (2009).

In 2008, Hammond and Byron Blackburn co-founded the In the Flow Jazz and Improvisational Music Festival. The festival emphasizes free form jazz and takes place annually in several Midtown Sacramento bars and galleries.

Hammond started the new decade with the solo guitar album Ambience, Antiquite and Other Love Songs (2010). In 2012, he formed the Ross Hammond Quartet with multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia, drummer Alex Cline and bassist Steuart Liebig. The quartet released Adored in 2012 and Cathedrals in 2013. Both albums were recorded live in one day in a style reminiscent of classic jazz albums. Cathedrals received a 4 star review in Downbeat and was named one of the top jazz releases of 2013.

Hammond's next project is a suite for sextet called The Humanity Suite, based on silhouettes by artist Kara Walker for an upcoming exhibition at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. The music will be performed in October 2013 and then recorded for a 2014 release. The ensemble is Vinny Golia and Catherine Sikora (saxophones), Dax Compise (drums), Clifford Childers (trombone) and Kerry Kashiwagi (bass).

Hammond has performed with many well known musicians, including saxophonist Oliver Lake; drummers Calvin Weston and Mike Pride; and bassist Ken Filiano. Hammond plays in a duo with drummer Scott Amendola called Lovely Builders and in a project called Electropoetic Coffee with poet NSAA (Lawrence Dinkins). Hammond has also performed with Kevin Seconds, Vinny Golia, Adam Lane, Steve Adams, Murray Campbell, Steve Adams, GE Stinson, Alan Cook, Sameer Gupta, Devin Hoff, Darren Johnston, Kevin Corcoran, John Hanes, Dwight Trible, and Alex Jenkins.

Ross Hammond plays an H1957 National Debonnaire, a Jerry Jones Neptune, a 1950s Silvertone Espenada, and a 1960 Martin 0018. He plays ZT Amplifiers and a 1961 Silvertone amp.

Ross Hammond lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and daughter.

If you're finding that things are always the same, the chances are that you're really not improvising. I enjoy playing and figuring out what kind of spaces I'm going to get into. The improv guys that I like the most are the ones that can do a lot of different stuff. They can play jazz, free, rhythmic, African, blues, folk songs. I don't want to put out a project where we only play one thing for an hour. I guess my goal is to have a voice and to bring my voice into any style that we're playing so you can always tell that it's me playing. I feel like Vinny Golia has that and Oliver Lake has that. Whatever project they're in, you can tell it's them that's playing. That's a great thing that musicians should be trying to achieve.

As a leader

• Ross Hammond Trio: Gauche (2003) with Sameer Gupta and Gerry Pineda
• Ross Hammond Trio: Optimism (2004) with Gerry Pineda and Tom Monson
• Ross Hammond Trio: Sometimes Nocturnal (2005) with Tom Monson and Erik Kleven
• Ross Hammond's Teakayo Mission (2007) with Scott Amendola, Lisa Mezzacappa and David Boyce
• Duets (2008) with various artists
• An Effective Use of Space (2009) with Lisa Mezzacappa and John Hanes
• Ambience, Antiquite and Other Love Songs (2010) solo
• Ross Hammond Quartet: Adored (2012) with Vinny Golia, Alex Cline, Steuart Liebig
• Ross Hammond Quartet: Cathedrals (2013) with Vinny Golia, Alex Cline, Steuart Liebig

Collaborations/as a sideman

• Race Quintet: Travels (2004) Ross Hammond, Tony Passarell, Tom Monson, Erik Kleven, and Scott Anderson
• The Ni Project (2005) with tabla player Alex Jenkins
• V Neck (2007) with drummer Tom Monson
• Electropoetic Coffee (2011) with poet NSAA (Lawrence Dinkins)
• Revival Trio (2012) with Vanessa Cruz and Shawn Hale (2012)
• Amy Reed (2013)
• Lovely Builders (forthcoming) with Scott Amendola

• One Final Note review, 22 February 2005
• Amy Reed website