CiTR

Hampton Hawes is a major piano stylist who rarely gets mentioned when piano giants come up in conversation. Hawes was widely admired by many including Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver, Andre Previn and others. Perhaps because Hawes was based for most part in his hometown of Los Angeles that maybe kept him out of the spotlight. Hawes was a major stylist with a very developed approach to the instrument and most were surprised that he was self taught and wasn't knowledgeable about theory and was not a great reader of music. He did have a photographic memory and could play anything he heard once. This is a fine date with Hawes' own trio with the great Red Mitchell on bass and Chuck Thompson on drums. Hawes runs through many great .standards and plays several of his own blues based original compositions. "Presenting Hampton Hawes" is a fine introduction to this major player.