Hampton Hawes

Early life

Hampton Hawes was born on November 13, 1928, in Los Angeles, California. |access-date=2009-10-06 His father, Hampton Hawes Sr., was minister of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. His mother, the former Gertrude Holman, was Westminster's church pianist. Hawes taught himself as a boy.

Later life and career

Hawes was self-taught; by his teens he was playing with the leading jazz musicians on the West Coast, including Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers, and Teddy Edwards. His second professional job, at 18, was playing for eight months with the Howard McGhee Quintet at the Hi De Ho Club, in a group that included Charlie Parker. By late 1947, Hawes' reputation had led to studio-recording work. Artists from these early session dates included George L. "Happy" Johnson, Teddy Edwards, Sonny Criss, and Shorty Rogers. From 1948 to 1952, he was recorded live on several occasions at Los Angeles-area jazz clubs including The Haig, The Lighthouse, and The Surf Club. By December 1952, he had recorded eight songs under his own name for Prestige Records with a quartet featuring Larry Bunker on vibraphone.

Hawes was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1952 and was sent to Japan. While stationed out of Camp Drake, he mainly played in "Army bands, shows and officer clubs" but also played gigs in Tokyo and Yokohama. The area in and around the camp became a hot-spot for jazz musicians in Japan through the clubs, cabarets and bars that catered to servicemen. Hawes greatly influenced the local jazz musicians in post-war Japan (one of whom was a young Toshiko Akiyoshi, a profound admirer of Hawes) who had previously relied on what few recordings they could obtain to understand the new developments in the music. However, he ran into trouble with the law due to narcotics use while stationed there. He was arrested and sent back to California in 1954.

After discharge from the U.S. Army, Hawes formed his own trio, with bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Chuck Thompson. The three-record Trio sessions made by this group in 1955 on Contemporary Records were considered some of the finest records to come out of the West Coast at the time. The next year, Hawes added guitarist Jim Hall for the All Night Session! album. These were three records made during a non-stop overnight recording session.

After a six-month national tour in 1956, Hawes won the "New Star of the Year" award in Down Beat magazine, and "Arrival of the Year" in Metronome. The following year, he recorded in New York City with Charles Mingus on the album Mingus Three (Jubilee, 1957).

Struggling for many years with a heroin addiction, in 1958 Hawes became the target of a federal undercover operation in Los Angeles. Investigators believed that he would inform on suppliers rather than risk ruining a successful music career. Hawes was arrested on heroin charges on his 30th birthday and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. In the intervening weeks between his trial and sentencing, Hawes recorded an album of spirituals and gospel songs, The Sermon.

In 1961, while at a federal prison hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, Hawes was watching President Kennedy's inaugural speech on television, and became convinced that Kennedy would pardon him. With help from inside and outside the prison, Hawes submitted an official request for a presidential pardon. In August 1963, Kennedy granted Hawes Executive Clemency, the 42nd of only 43 such pardons given in the final year of Kennedy's presidency.

After being released from prison, Hawes resumed playing and recording. After coming back to jazz world, Hawes had to fight against his own depression.

Raise Up Off Me, Hawes' autobiography, written with Don Asher and published in 1974, shed light on his heroin addiction, the bebop movement, and his friendships with some of the leading jazz musicians of his time. It won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Critic Gary Giddins, who wrote the book's introduction, called Raise Up Off Me "a major contribution to the literature of jazz." The book Raise Up Off Me includes details about the ambivalent relationship of Hawes and Charlie Parker.

Hampton Hawes died unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage in 1977, at the age of 48.

Style and influence

Hawes' playing style developed in the early 1950s. He included "figures used by Parker and [Bud] Powell (but he played with a cleaner articulation than Powell), some Oscar Peterson phrases, and later, some Bill Evans phrases [...], and an impressive locked-hands style in which the top notes always sang out clearly." He also helped develop "the double-note blues figures and rhythmically compelling comping style that Horace Silver and others were to use in the mid-1950s." His technique featured "great facility with rapid runs and a versatile control of touch."

Hawes was influenced by some jazz pianists, including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. Hawes' own influences came from a number of sources, including the gospel music and spirituals he heard in his father's church as a child, and the boogie-woogie piano of Earl Hines. Hawes also learned much from pianists Powell and Nat King Cole, among others. However, his principal source of influence was his friend Charlie Parker; "It was Birds conception of time that influenced me most...Of course I didnt try to copy his solos or anything like that, but I think Parker has influenced me more that anybody, even piano players."

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Compilations

• The Hampton Hawes Memorial Album (Xanadu, 1982) – rec. 1952–56
• Trio and Quartet 1951-1956 Live and Studio Sessions (Fresh Sound, 2005)[2CD] – rec. 1951–56

As sideman

With Dexter Gordon

• Blues à la Suisse (Prestige, 1974) – rec. 1973
• The Hunt (Savoy, 1977) – rec. 1947

With Barney Kessel

• Kessel Plays Standards (Contemporary, 1955)
• Let's Cook! (Contemporary, 1962) – rec. 1957

With Art Pepper

• Surf Ride (Savoy, 1956) – rec. 1952–54
• Living Legend (Contemporary, 1975)
• The Early Show (Xanadu, 1979) – rec. 1952

With Shorty Rogers

• Modern Sounds (Capitol, 1951)
• Shorty Rogers and His Giants (RCA Victor, 1953) With others
• Gene Ammons, Gene Ammons and Friends at Montreux (Prestige, 1973)
• Sonny Criss, I'll Catch the Sun! (Prestige, 1969)
• Art Farmer, On the Road (Contemporary, 1976)
• Wardell Gray, Live in Hollywood (Xanadu, 1978) – rec. 1952
• Warne Marsh, Live in Hollywood (Xanadu, 1979) – rec. 1952
• Charles Mingus, Mingus Three (Jubilee, 1957)
• Blue Mitchell, Stratosonic Nuances (RCA, 1975)
• Red Mitchell, Red Mitchell (Bethlehem, 1955)
• Sonny Rollins, Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders (Contemporary, 1958)
• Bud Shank, Bud Shank – Shorty Rogers – Bill Perkins (Pacific Jazz, 1955)
• Sonny Stitt, So Doggone Good (Prestige, 1972)

Bibliography

• Raise Up Off Me: A Portrait of Hampton Hawes by Hampton Hawes, Don Asher, and Gary Giddins
• Hampton Hawes: A Discography by Roger Hunter & Mike Davis. 127pp. Manana Publications, Manchester, England. 1986.

References

References

1. (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
2. "Hampton Hawes {{!}} Biography & History {{!}} AllMusic".
3. [https://aaregistry.org/story/hampton-hawes-jazz-pianist-of-the-1950s/#:~:text=Born%20in%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20California,of%201930s%20jazz%20piano%20musicians Hampton Hawes pianist] aaregistry.org Retrieved 15 August 2025
4. Owens, Thomas. (1996). "Bebop". Oxford University Press.
5. (August 1955). "Hampton Hawes Vol.1: The Trio". Contemporary Records.
6. (2001). "Hampton Hawes, Vol.2: The Trio". Contemporary Records.
7. (1999). "Hampton Hawes Vol.1: The Trio". Contemporary Records.
8. (16 August 2013). "The Jazz Pianist That John F. Kennedy Saved".
9. [https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/hampton-hawes Hampton Hawes Bio] allaboutjazz.com Retrieved 15 August 2025
10. [https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2022/10/26/hampton-hawes-three-classic-albums-plus/ Hampton Hawes] jazzjournal.co.uk Retrieved 16 August 2025
11. [https://salt-peanuts.eu/record2have/hampton-hawes-quartet/ Hampton Hawes] salt-peanuts.eu Retrieved 13 August 2025