Carioca – The Hampton Hawes Trio

The tune Carioca was a big hit in 1933 as a result of the film Flying Down to Rio (which, incidentally, saw the first pairing on screen of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). There is a dance that goes with the tune, which involves the two dancers pressing their foreheads together, which always seem to me to risk an accidental headbutt (or present an opportunity for non-accidental one). Incidentally, “Carioca” is a slang term for a native of Rio de Janeiro.

Anyway, the popularity of the tune meant that many swing bands did versions: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Woody Herman all had a go at it; the Artie Shaw version being particularly good. Later on, after the end of World War 2 and the arrival of the bebop era, many jazz musicians began to incorporate Latin-American rhythms and melodies into their work and this tune survived in various forms. There’s a very nice version by Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, for example.

My favourite is this marvellous up-tempo rendition by the shamefully underrated pianist Hampton Hawes and his trio recorded in 1955. The pre-eminent modern piano stylists of the early fifties were Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell; Hawes was closer to the latter in approach, but it always seemed to me that he was the pianist paid the most direct musical homage to the great Charlie Parker; his solo on this is full of bebop licks and is taken at such a breakneck pace that even the nimble feet of Fred Astaire wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxtQd7B0vPY

#Carioca #CharlieParker #FlyingDownToRio #HamptonHawes

Charlie Haden/Hampton Hawes - As Long as There's Music

A lovely, subtle album between Haden (bass) and Hawes (piano), made melancholy due to Hawes' death before its release in 1976.

(More of a "was playing" than "now playing", but playing catch-up.)

#nowplaying #vinyl #jazz #pianoduo #CharlieHaden #HamptonHawes

Hampton Hawes - Four!

This lively 1958 release finds Hawes (piano) joined by Barney Kessel (guitar), Shelley Manne (drums), and Red Mitchell (bass).

A combo of swing, blues, bop, standards, all well recorded, re-released by Craft with QRP doing the pressing. Not engineered by RvG (Lester Koenig produced, Roy DuNann engineered) so the piano sounds great. ;-)

#nowplaying #vinyl #jazz #swing #blues #HamptonHawes #BarneyKessel #ShellyManne #RedMitchell

The Green Leaves of Summer is an album by American jazz pianist Hampton Hawes recorded in 1964 and released on the Contemporary label.

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states "Pianist Hampton Hawes' first recording after serving five years in prison finds Hawes evolving a bit from a Bud Powell-influenced bop pianist to one familiar with more modern trends in jazz... Recommended"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAvU7uLUmjY&list=OLAK5uy_mHRBbSfHHMyEMfNsQ3oAH1y-3XC9Dbd8Q

#hamptonhawes #jazz #jazzpiano #1964inmusic

Jazztodon artist of the week: pianist Hampton Hawes!

“I just sit down and look funny and try to feel up on something and and I might mess around and just do nothing for about 10 or 15 minutes you know, but if I calm down and and get through that phase and really let some of my inner self come out, then you start getting glimpses of something that you should do. That’s one thing that I've learned is to take my time. I can sit down and look stupid and just play everything wrong for a long while and all of a sudden it'll come together. The only thing I'm trying to do is communicate love between people in the world. I like happiness, and I like people of all the world to love each other and treat each other right and be right with each other and help each other. That's what I want to put in the music. But then I'm beginning to realize that nobody's perfect, and there's going to be even flaws in that, you know. But that's cool, too.”

#jazz #hamptonhawes