Hampton Hawes: "Blues For Bud".

[Big Beat Steve]

Mike, I read your post several times but cannot quite figure out what the puzzlement could possibly be. When I wrote my post I had both LPs before me and checked the entries in the Bruyninckx (digital) discography. The key facts I listed do match what you wrote. So we should have got this settled?

(Except that in my post I had rashly and incorrectly written March 1955 for the Freddie Redd session - in fact it was "not quite March yet" - it was 28 February 1955 But that's unrelated to Hampton Hawes whom we are concerned with here.)

[mhatta]

16 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Very interesting. I too am very into the playing of Yamashita and Akiyoshi.

There was a jazz club in Yokohama called Mocambo. It was a place akin to Minton's in NYC, serving as a gathering spot for young jazz musicians like Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe, and Masayuki Takayanagi—who later gained worldwide fame—as well as those who died young, like Shotaro Moriyasu. They wanted to study bebop, the latest jazz style at the time, during the after-hours sessions, but information was scarce. Then none other than Hampton Hawes arrived on the scene, and everyone, not just the pianists, imitated him. The only recording left of those jam sessions at Mocambo is a homemade one from the night of July 27 to 28, 1954, recorded by Kiyoshi Iwami, a 19-year-old college student like Jerry Newman. Hawes does play “Tenderly” on it.

 

On 12/22/2025 at 2:09 AM, Late said:

!!!!

Yamashita is one of my favorite pianists. I'd love to hear his take on Hawes.

 

In the 1985 recording of “It Don't Mean A Thing", a solo piano live album, he plays “Hamp's Blues”.  Of course, it gets a bit free here and there, but generally in the Hawes style.

https://www.discogs.com/ja/release/15178098-Yamashita-Yosuke-It-Dont-Mean-A-Thing

[mhatta]

On 12/22/2025 at 2:09 AM, Late said:

On another note—

Probably because they both recorded for Contemporary around the same time, for some reason I connect Hawes with Phineas Newborn. How much would you all say that Hawes and Newborn overlap in concept? (Or do they not overlap at all.)

Actually, the comparison between Hampton Hawes and Phineas Newborn, Jr. is interesting.

Hawes had a father who was a pastor and roots in the black church, while Phineas was in his father's blues band in Memphis and performed with B.B. King and others. However, I think from start both of them used more refined and modern harmonies rather than earthy ones.

What they have in common is that their styles changed mid-career. I think the early Hawes was heavily influenced by Bud Powell, and he wasn't originally very good at ballads. However, after being imprisoned and pardoned, he became influenced by Bill Evans and began to play lyrically.

Phineas's early recordings, such as “Here's Phineas” and his RCA albums, were all about technique and not funky at all. However, on Roy Haynes' "We Three" and various Contemporary label recordings, he developed a sophisticated, unpretentious, yet bluesy style.  I think that style became a model for the younger generation, the so-called Memphis Piano Connection. They're all dead now, though...

[Niko]

You should really listen to that solo album (Challenge), the Evans influence is suddenly absent again in a curious way...  I'm one of the people who say that Hawes' post-imprisonment trio albums like Here and Now or I'm all smiles are the peak...

Regarding discographical mysteries, Bird Song is another east west record with guest Paul Chambers...  and here there are some reasonable doubts about the lineup as given (e.g.: the session with Big Foot has some curious overlap with a largely unreleased session of the trio with Mitchell and Thompson)

[mikeweil]

9 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Mike, I read your post several times but cannot quite figure out what the puzzlement could possibly be. When I wrote my post I had both LPs before me and checked the entries in the Bruyninckx (digital) discography. The key facts I listed do match what you wrote. So we should have got this settled?

(Except that in my post I had rashly and incorrectly written March 1955 for the Freddie Redd session - in fact it was "not quite March yet" - it was 28 February 1955 But that's unrelated to Hampton Hawes whom we are concerned with here.)

All is well. I probably was too tired when I thought there was a discrepancy. 

[Late]

5 hours ago, mhatta said:

Actually, the comparison between Hampton Hawes and Phineas Newborn, Jr. is interesting.

Hawes had a father who was a pastor and roots in the black church, while Phineas was in his father's blues band in Memphis and performed with B.B. King and others. However, I think from start both of them used more refined and modern harmonies rather than earthy ones.

What they have in common is that their styles changed mid-career. I think the early Hawes was heavily influenced by Bud Powell, and he wasn't originally very good at ballads. However, after being imprisoned and pardoned, he became influenced by Bill Evans and began to play lyrically.

Phineas's early recordings, such as “Here's Phineas” and his RCA albums, were all about technique and not funky at all. However, on Roy Haynes' "We Three" and various Contemporary label recordings, he developed a sophisticated, unpretentious, yet bluesy style.  I think that style became a model for the younger generation, the so-called Memphis Piano Connection.

Well put!

[JSngry]

What about that Curtis Fuller Prestige record with Hawes?

[Simon8]

That prompted me to listen again to this odd session ("CF & HH with French Horns"): more enjoyable than I remembered, although HH doesn't get a lot of space. Made me also think of Hawes' "Gold Dust Twin", Sonny Clark (a "Bone & Bari" mix for him with Fuller), with whom Hawes may share a closer connection than with Phineas Newborn.      

Edited 1 hour ago by Simon8

[Late]

1 minute ago, Simon8 said:

Made me also think of Hawes [and] Sonny Clark...with whom Hawes may share a closer connection than with Phineas Newborn.      

Agreed. The way they accent has some similarities.

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

What about that Curtis Fuller Prestige record with Hawes?

Hip. I don't own it, but that's why YouTube is my friend! 😁

 

[JSngry]

Not exactly a common date...

The OG:

16 2/3 RPM!!!!

So what was Hawes doing in the East?