Hampton Hawes

[jlhoots]

lifeless, loggy, heavy, thudding

Those are the words of Mr. Kart's review that I don't agree with.

BTW, I have listened to them recently.

Edited March 11, 2004 by jlhoots

[JSngry]

Anybody ever heard the RCA(?) live album w/Steely Dan guitarist Denny Diaz? I never have, but I've long been curious.

[Larry Kart]

Another very nice Hawes MPS/Saba album (and very handsomely recorded) is:

Hampton Hawes Trio

Hampton Hawes (p) Eberhard Weber (B) Klaus Weiss (d -2,4,6,7)

Brunner-Schwer Studio, Villingen, West Germany, November 8, 1967

1. Villingen Blues (Hamp's Blues)

2. Rhythm -

3. Black Forest Blues -

4. Autumn Leaves -

5. What Is This Thing Called Love? -

6. Sonora -

7. I'm All Smiles -

8. My Foolish Heart -

* Hamp's Piano (MPS [G] 15.149)

* Hampton Hawes in Europe (Prestige PR 7695)

I think it was the first record I got to review for Down Beat back in 1968.

[MartyJazz]

ubu

The pianist on that 'I Can't Get Started' is Sonny Clark. He may not be mentioned but the piano player on that one is Sonny. Hampton Hawes played on the rest of the session.

[king ubu]

Marty, I wrote brownie an email about it, he said it was "common knowledge" among Clark fans.

I found this entry:

[Charles Mingus / Mingus Three] (Jubilee JLP-1504)

*Hampton Hawes, Sonny Clark - p; Charles Mingus - b; Danny Richmond - ds

#July 9, 1957 / NYC

+ I Can't Get Started

#Latest CD reissue number : 57155-B(U.S.) / TOCJ-5385(Japan)

Note : Sonny Clark is playing the last two chords after Mingus's bass solo thus ending the song.

(source: http://www.icnet.ne.jp/~acchan/scl.htm)

then this one:

CHARLES MINGUS. Mingus Three. Jubilee JLP-1054, TOCJ 5385.

Mingus - b; Clark - p; Dannie Richmond - d

"I Can't Get Started".

7/9/57.

(source: http://www.leebloom.com/discography.htm

and this one:

Charles Mingus Trio

Sonny Clark - p; Charles Mingus - b; Dannie Richmond - d

NYC, July 9, 1957

I Can't Get Started Jubilee JLP 1054 

* Mingus Three / Charles Mingus (Jubilee JLP 1054)

(source: http://www.jazzdisco.org/clark/dis/c/)

ubu

Edited March 15, 2004 by king ubu

[randyhersom]

Yes, Jim, it's a nice Hampton Hawes album. Diaz doesn't solo, but he also doesn't interfere or rock it out, just comps tastefully.

Diaz also made some contributions in computer programming. He co-wrote the Clipper programming language in the late 80s.

[Peter]

I believe that Raise Up Off Me mentions that Clark played on one tune from Mingus's Trio record.

[mailman]

I remember first hearing Hamp on records a little more than thirty years ago and being blown away. His book "Raise Up Off Me" is essential reading. It's one of the, if not he greatest book on the jazz life and scene ever. Hamp could flat out PLAY.

In the early 1970s he recorded some things on electric piano for Prestige which are largely ependable. "Playin' In The Yard" , recorded live at Montreux has its moments and his work on Dexter Gordons "Blues A La Suisse" is worth hearing but none of this is up to his great playing on the Piano. The all night sessions are terrific, and as was stated above, "The Sermon" is one great recording.

[pryan]

I have NO Hawes in my collection. This is bad, something must be done. Off to spend more money today. B-)

Where should I begin?

[Morganized]

Hampton Hawes Trio Vol 1,2, and 3. All very good and relatively easy to find. I prefer vol. 2 but all are very good and worth getting. Vol. 1 has been remastered I believe.

A word of caution. For some strange reason I did not get Hampton Hawes at first. He is not an in your face kind of player IMHO. I revistited his work some time back and just couldn't get enough. I think he is of my favorite pianist now. Spend some time here.....it will pay back big dividends.

[pryan]

Thanks for the response, Morganized. I understand your comment re: not being "in your face". I actually seem to get more "lasting enjoyment" out of those kinds of artists -- Monk, for example.

I'm even more excited to delve into Hawes' discography. I'll report back later.

[Bluesnik]

I like Hawes a lot. As sideman (one session that comes to mind is the Bud Shank with Bill Perkins one which is actually half of Bud Shank & Shorty Rogers on Pacific Jazz) or leader.

Just last night I was listening to Early Years, a new compilation of trios and quartets recorded in live and studio settings between 51 and 55, predating his first recordings for Contemporary. I have only heard the trio live sessions so far, but I liked them a lot. They were recorded in 51 and 52 at The Haig and a Surf Club with Joe Mondragon and Shelly Manne, Lawrence Marable and Larry Bunker. Sound's so so, but not bad considering they're club recordings.

What I don't know is the source of that material, if it's been issued before and where. I must admit I still haven't read the liners. But for Hampton Hawes fans I'd recommend it. It's an interesting glance at his, errr ... Early Years.

[EKE BBB]

Did anybody mention this one?:

PEDRO ITURRALDE QUARTET FEATURING HAMPTON HAWES

BLUE NOTE [EUROPE] 101

Track list:

On Green Dolphin Street

Black Forest Blues

Autumn Leaves

Oleo

Moonlight in Vermont

My Funny Valentine

Pedro Iturralde (ts, bars, ss, fl), Hampton Hawes (p), Eric Peter (b), Peer Wyboris (d)

Recorded in Madrid, Spain, February, 1968.

It´s a great CD.

As Hampton Hawes was playing on a two weeks engagement at Whiskey Jazz Club (Madrid), Juan Claudio Cifuentes "Cifu", one of the best known jazz-radio men in Spain, managed to get them to the Hispavox studio, recording this disc at three o´clock in the morning!

Distributed outside Spain by Blue Note.

[Bluesnik]

Did anybody mention this one?:

PEDRO ITURRALDE QUARTET FEATURING HAMPTON HAWES

BLUE NOTE [EUROPE] 101

I have it, but can't comment since I still haven't heard it. Picked it up very cheap not long ago. It seems to have been repressed or come afloat again. What's funny about it is that it's a Blue Note, with regular logo and everything. So it must be a kind of rarity. One for the completists or label fetishists.

On a different note, I got around to listening to the second CD of Fresh Sound's Early Years and it's still better than the first one. Apart from a short trio live date at the end it's made up of studio trios and quartets. With mainly Joe Mondragon, Shelly Manne, Lawrence Marable and Larry Bunker on ... vibes.

The real treat for me is that quartet with Larry Bunker on vibes. The interplay between Hawes and Bunker is fantastic. It reminds me a bit of Farlow and Eddie Costa's. I know, it's a different beast, but the feel is the same. Those fluid interleaved lines and that stop and go motion. Great.

Sound's much better on those studio dates too. I have heard it many times since.

And that cover shot! I can't take my eyes off it. It's such a powerful picture. One of the best jazz portraits I have seen. From the moment I set my eyes on it I thought, William Claxton! But it's not credited on the inlay. You know how the filks at Fresh Sound are.

Edited November 18, 2004 by Bluesnik

[cannonball-addict]

I LOVE this book. This and Straight Life ring so stingingly true. Great reads. My favorite quotation from this one:

I knew a lot of strung out dudes who couldn't play shit; they should have just got high and enjoyed themselves and forgot about playing. If you can't swing, you can't swing. You can stuff your stomach with black-eyes peas and chitlins, go out and roll in the mud and say I'm gonna get down, but it ain't going to help if you don't pat your feet right because chitlins have no more to do with soul than mud has to do with music. If you say to Little Lord Fauntleroy, go roll three times over there in that shit, get good anf funky, then come back and play the same tune, se if it helps, you know what would happen? He'd roll over three times, come back and play the same tune, and the only difference would be that he'd be covered with shit. Music's the same as life, there ain't no corners, no outs.

Edited November 25, 2004 by cannonball-addict

[shrugs]

The Challenge!!!!

[Jim R]

Somehow I missed this thread, although I've posted on other HH threads (one of which I remember as being one of my last posts at the BNBB before it went away).

Hawes has been a favorite of mine for years, and I tend to like the mid-late 60's era recordings the most. I love his ballad playing from that era. I think the more boppish, overtly "swinging" stuff from the 50's is relatively trite to my ears, despite always being very good to hear from time to time. Titles in bold are what I probably reach for most often:

1951-09-22; 1957-01-22, 23 East-West Controversy -Xanadu (Vantage)

1952, 1956 Hampton Hawes Memorial -Xanadu

1952-09-09 Hampton Hawes Memorial -Jazz Factory (Jam Session)

1955-06-28 Vol. 1 / The Trio -Contemporary

1955-06-28; 12-03;1956-01-25 Vol. 2 / The Trio -Contemporary

1956-01-18; 1958-03 Bird Song -Contemporary

1956-01-25 Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes (Vol. 3: The Trio) -Contemporary

1956-11-12 All Night Session, Vol. 1 -Contemporary

1956-11-12,13 All Night Session, Vol. 2 -Contemporary

1956-11-13 All Night Session, Vol. 3 -Contemporary

1958-01-27 FOUR! -Contemporary

1964-02-17 The Green Leaves Of Summer -Contemporary

1965-05-12 Here And Now -Contemporary

1965-05-12 For Real! -Contemporary

1966-04-30,05-01 I'm All Smiles -Contemporary

1966-04-30,05-01 The Seance -Contemporary

1967; 1968-01-25 Piano Improvisation (aka Autumn Leaves (In Paris)) -Joker / Moon

1967-11-08 Hamp's Piano -Saba / MPS

1968-03-10 Blues For Bud (aka Spanish Steps) -Black Lion

1968-05-07, 09 The Challenge -RCA Victor

1970 High In The Sky -Fresh Sound (Vault)

1971-06 Live In Montreux, 1971 -Fresh Sound (JAS)

1971-09-02 Live At The Montmartre -Black Lion (Arista)

1971-09-02 Iss.1977 A Little Copenhagen Night Music -Arista

1973-06 Live At The Jazz Showcase -Enja

1973-06-10 Live At The Jazz Showcase, Vol. 2 -Enja

1976-01-25; 08-21 As Long As There's Music -Artists House

1976-06-10 Something Special -Contemporary

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

I have NO Hawes in my collection. This is bad, something must be done.

Where should I begin?

No hawes? That really is a monumental outrage. Hmmmm...where to begin? I'd say that at this late date your best bet is to immediately fly into action and sell off a couple of worthless old Boomtown Rats, Wishbone Ash and Shorter 'All Seeing Eye' Lps now cluttering up the stax and use the minimal proceeds to land the oft-lauded Japanese edition of 'All Night Session!' that's now sitting on eBay. While I don't know the seller personally, I hear that he detests all beer below 4.6%.....all cities that ban smoking in bars...and the person(s) responsible for producing a shockingly inadequate 'remake' of the old Wild, Wild West show that really would have pissed off Jim, Artie, Miguelito Loveless and Voltaire.

Edited November 26, 2004 by Son-of-a-Weizen

[pryan]

Finally picked up my first Hawes album, this one:

Really liking it! Heard that duo album w/Haden and am going to take it out of the library. Discovering "new" artists is fun!

[Daniel A]

I bought a couple of LPs in a used record shop today, and got Hampton hawes Trio Live at Montreux (JAS Records, 1971), which was missing the cover, for free! I must say that it contains some of the most adventurous playing I've heard from Hawes - consistently excellent. The trio with Henry Franklin and Michael Carvin are not particularly well-known or -documented, but I think it's a good one. Side one of the LP contains a 31+ minute rendition of the unpromising title This Guy's in Love with You, but the playing is very "progressive". No commercial givaways, unlike some of his later albums. Strongly recommended!

[Noj]

Although not his best material, Hawes kicks ass on electric piano on Northern Windows Plus. The track "Web" is a personal favorite jazz funk jammy.

[Daniel A]

And yes, I forgot to add: read "Raise Up Off Me"! It's a very personal, revealing, and ultimately saddening statement, which nevertheless should be read by anyone interested in his music. Since a few years it's once again available, now in an inexpensive paperback edition.

On Amazon it's possible to search inside the book for specific words and phrases.

"The Hampton Hawes Website" appears to be unavailable. It didn't contain that much besides a discography, but had some interesting suggestions under "Suggested reading" (still available from the 'wayback-machine' here)

For anyone largely unfamiliar with Hawes, here's a piece which offers slightly more insight that the AMG.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I love Hawes' playing, too. My favourites are:

At the piano - Contemporary (OJC) I bet "Killing me softly" puts people off, but once he, Ray Brown & Shelley Manne get down to it, they FLY!

High in the sky - Vault - another one that flies

The Green leaves of Summer - Contemporary (OJC)

Live at Memory Lane - with Criss, Teddy Edwards and Joe Turner

I also have a wail of a CD by Sonny Criss on Fresh Sound with 4 trax from 1949 and 3 from 1957. It's dreadfully short - 20m 9s - but who cares?

The one I don't like much is "Movie musicals". The strings seem to make this totally wet. Am I listening to it wrong?

I need to get "Four" and "For real", which I think are the only Contemporarys I haven't got, before Concord kill them.

MG

[Ron S]

I need to get "Four" and "For real", which I think are the only Contemporarys I haven't got, before Concord kill them.

MG

DEFINITELY.

[Tom 1960]

Ok, to revive this topic if only temporarily, what are your thoughts on "Here And Now"? I've seen it get some mention in this lengthy thread but no serious comments. I guess why I'm curious is that I can get this rather cheaply from Newbury Comics, especially since it's OOP. I already own a good number of Hampton's catalogue and this is one of the few earlier dates with the exception of the "All Night Sessions" that I don't already own. Input is appreciated.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Tom 1960