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Jeff Hamilton was born on August 4, 1953 in Richmond, Indiana. He attended Indiana University. Early in his career, he played with the Tommy Dorsey Ghost Band, after which he briefly played with Lionel Hampton. He spent two years as a member of the Monty Alexander Trio starting in 1975, and 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 albums. After this, he started recording regularly as a sideman for the Concord label.

From 1983 to 1987, he played with Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, and the Count Basie Orchestra. In the 1990s, Hamilton played gigs with The Clayton Brothers, toured the world with Oscar Peterson and the Ray Brown Trio.

Hamilton toured extensively with Diana Krall and played on several of her albums and one of her DVDs. Leading his own band  Hamilton also leads his own trio, with bassist Christoph Luty and pianist Tamir Hendelman, they have recorded for Lake Street, Mons and Azica labels.

Once a co-owner of Bosphorus Cymbals, USA, he has since started his own cymbal company, Crescent Cymbals, with Michael Vosbein, Bill Norman, and drummer Stanton Moore and attracted the attention of  Sabian who bought out Crescent, redistributing them through their Hand-Hammered series.

As a sideman he has worked with the George Robert All-Star Quartet, the Mike Jones Trio, Adam Schroeder, Holly Hofmann, Lalo Schifrin and Bud Shank among others. Drummer Jeff Hamilton currently co-leads the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with John and Jeff Clayton and continues to perform, record and tour with his trio.

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