I'm just finishing up a spin of The Hawk Relaxes. I don't hear what Cyrille is doing as "ricky-tick, hotel band manner" at all. Rather, Chilton is on the right track - Cyrille sounds young and rambunctious - a little too ready with the fills on ballads; a little too ready to go into double time, but not consciously old-fashioned . "I'll Never Be the Same" contains his most idiosyncratic fills.
I like music where every element is "right," but I also like music where one or more players are somewhat subversive and give the music a little "goose."
I'm with Jeff on this one. Sounds to me like Hawk was particularly inspired, Burrell and Bright are playing suportive roles, and a young drummer was trying to goose things up a little. To say that he "almost sabotaged the date" is over the top, at least to my ears.