He is perhaps best known for his work with Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, and D… Read Full Bio ↴He is perhaps best known for his work with Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, and Diana Krall as well as with the groups he headlines. He has played in jazz festivals and clubs worldwide.

Early in his career, he played with the Tommy Dorsey ghost band, after which he played briefly with Lionel Hampton.

He spent two years as a member of Monty Alexander's Trio starting in 1975, and he was with Woody Herman's Orchestra from 1977 to 1978, following which he became a member of the L.A. Four (with whom he made six record albums). After this, he started recording regularly as a sideman for Concord.

From 1983 to 1987, he performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Monty Alexander. In the 1990s, Hamilton played gigs with The Clayton Brothers, toured the world with Oscar Peterson and the Ray Brown trio, and currently co-leads the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with John and Jeff Clayton. Hamilton has toured extensively with Diana Krall and played on one of her DVDs and several of her albums. Hamilton also leads his own trio, with Christoph Luty (bass) and Tamir Hendelman (piano); they have recorded for Lake Street andMons and currently record for Azica.

Hamilton is co-owner of Bosphorus Cymbals and plays his own signature line of cymbals, the Hammer Series

Felicidade
Jeff Hamilton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Tristeza não tem fim
Felicidade sim
A felicidade é como a gota
De orvalho numa pétala de flor
Brilha tranquila
Depois de leve oscila
E cai como uma lágrima de amor
A felicidade do pobre parece

A grande ilusão do carnaval
A gente trabalha o ano inteiro
Por um momento de sonho
Pra fazer a fantasia
De rei ou de pirata ou jardineira
Pra tudo se acabar na quarta feira
Tristeza não tem fim
Felicidade sim
A felicidade é como a pluma
Que o vento vai levando pelo are
Voa tão leve
Mas tem a vida breve
Precisa que haja vento sem parar
A minha felicidade está sonhando
Nos olhos da minha namorada
É como esta noite
Passando, passando
Em busca da madrugada
Falem baixo, por favor
Pra que ela acorde alegre como o dia
Oferecendo beijos de amor

Tristeza não tem fim
Felicidade sim

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Jeff Hamilton's "Felicidade" captures the essence of happiness and sadness. It starts by saying that sadness never ends, while happiness is fleeting like a drop of dew on a flower petal. Happiness appears calm, then wavers and falls like a tear of love. The song suggests that happiness that emanates from material possessions and excess is not true happiness, and the poor's happiness during carnival is a great illusion. The working class spends the whole year preparing for the carnival to have their moment of dreaming and fantasizing about being a king, pirate, or gardener, only to come to an end on Wednesday.

The second stanza of the song speaks of the transitory nature of happiness. Happiness is as light as a feather that the wind can carry, but its life is short and requires continuous wind. The singer's happiness lies in dreaming about his lover, and he compares it to tonight, which is quickly passing in search of dawn. The singer asks the people around him to speak quietly not to wake his lover. The song concludes by repeating the opening line that sadness has no end, but happiness is the opposite.

Line by Line Meaning

Tristeza não tem fim
Sadness has no end

Felicidade sim
Happiness, however, does

A felicidade é como a gota
Happiness is like a droplet

De orvalho numa pétala de flor
Of dew on a flower petal

Brilha tranquila
It shines peacefully

Depois de leve oscila
Then swings lightly

E cai como uma lágrima de amor
And falls like a tear of love

A felicidade do pobre parece
The happiness of the poor seems

A grande ilusão do carnaval
Like a great illusion of carnival

A gente trabalha o ano inteiro
People work the whole year

Por um momento de sonho
For a moment of dream