Tag Archives: Hampton Hawes

Listening Room – “Blues For Walls”

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Blues For Walls

Hampton Hawes – “Blues for Walls”

Hampotn Hawes – “Hamp’s Collard Green Blues”

Hampton Hawes – “Rain Forest”

From “Blues For Walls” : 1976 : Prestige P 10060

Let’s start off the New Year right !!

The title track alone is worth the price of admission to this out-of-print gem by Hampton Hawes (one of our favorites around here).  Hawes turned off a lot of his admirers when he switched to the electric piano in the 1970′s, but hindsight has shown that criticism to be unfounded. Hadley Caliman is on fire and the rhythm section is especially on point, especially on the trio selections.  [Note: There is a fair amount of vinyl surface noise from the rip, but it's worth it to hear this rarity!]

Players:
Hampton Hawes – Piano, Elec Piano, Synthesizer
Oscar Brashear  – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Hadley Caliman – Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax
George Walker – Guitar
Henry Franklin – Bass
Leon “Ndugu” Chancler – Drums

Listening Room – “Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns”

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With French Horns

Curtis Fuller And Hampton Hawes – A-Drift

Curtis Fuller And Hampton Hawes – Roc And Troll

From “Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns“  :  1957  :  Status Records ST 8305

This is a fantastic album that for some reason remains obscure (and currently out-of-print) despite the talented players involved.  Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes are joined by two of the top jazz French Horn players (Julius Watkins and David Amram) for a great session that falls somewhere between cool jazz and hard bop.

Players:
Curtis Fuller – Trombone
Hampton Hawes – Piano
Julius Watkins – French Horn
David Amram – French Horn
Sahib Shihab – Alto Sax
Addison Farmer – Bass
Jerry Segal – Drums

Listening Room – “Spanish Steps”

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Don’t know a whole bunch about this album other than that it was recorded for Black Lion records in 1968 while the trio was in Paris on a world tour and that it has never been re-released on CD (although there is a questionable MP3 version available on Amazon, but I am not sure of it’s quality or track accuracy…).  The mostly original music is great and shows Hawes touching on both his bebop roots and looking forward a bit (showing the influence of some of the jazz pianists of the era).

Spanish Steps
This album is currently out-of-print.

Recorded 1968  :  Black Lion Records  :  Catalog # BL 122

Players:
Hampton Hawes – Piano
Jimmy Woode – Bass
Art Taylor – Drums

Hampton Hawes – Sonora from “Spanish Steps”

Hampton Hawes – Black Forest from “Spanish Steps”

Listening Room – “All Night Session! Vols. 1-3″

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The title pretty much says it all:  In November of 1956 Hampton Hawes entered the studio one evening and didn’t leave until the next morning.  The result was three LPs worth of great music that comes off more like a live gig than a studio recording.  Hawes (one of my personal favorites) normally recorded in a trio setting so the addition of Jim Hall on guitar really opened up the proceedings for all involved.  In 2007, Definitive Records released all three volumes on one nicely remastered double CD, a really nice way to have all this great West Coast bop in one place.

All Night Sessions, Vol 1-3
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Released 1956  :  Contemporary Records  :  Catalog #’s C 3545, C 3546, C 3547

Original Covers:

All Night Session, Vol 1

All Night Session, Vol 2

All Night Session, Vol 3

Players:
Hampton Hawes – Piano
Jim Hall – Guitar
Red Mitchell – Bass
Eldridge Freeman – Drums

Hampton Hawes – Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea from “All Night Session, Vol 1-3″

Hampton Hawes – Blues #3 from “All Night Session, Vol 1-3″

Hampton Hawes – Blue ‘n’ Boogie from “All Night Session, Vol 1-3″

Hampton Hawes – Takin’ Care from “All Night Session, Vol 1-3″

Hampton Hawes – Groovin’ High from “All Night Session, Vol 1-3″

Listening Room – “Four!”

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Hampton Hawes – “Yardbird Suite”

Hampton Hawes – “Like Someone In Love”

From “Four!” : 1958 : Contemporary Records

Hampton Hawes was a fixture of the 50′s West Coast jazz scene and recorded many fantastic albums for the Contemporary Records label during this time. Although Hawes is probably best known for his trio recordings from this time, he changes things up a bit for this quartet release featuring Barney Kessel on guitar. [Kessel was so popular on jazz guitar at this time that in 1961 Gibson introduced the signature Barney Kessel Custom guitar which stayed in production until 1973]

Players:
Hampton Hawes – Piano
Barney Kessel – Guitar
Red Mitchell – Bass
Shelly Manne – Drums