Hampton Hawes was born with six fingers on each hand on November 13th, 1928.

Although they were more like stubs, which got surgically removed shortly after birth, he

later considered this as some sort of omen. He was the youngest of six siblings, his

father a minster and his mother the church organist. He grew up in a mixed racial

community in Los Angeles, California and found his father to be disillusioned and his

family to be cold, confused and out of touch with reality. His father didn’t like jazz at all,

and would hide the key to the piano in the home, so Hampton couldn’t play when they

were gone. He found it, would play, and when they would pull in the driveway, he

would lock it up, return the key and open a book in time for them to walk in. His oldest

sister was classically trained at piano. When he was very young, he would sit on his

mother’s lap while she practiced at the piano. This is where he learned the motions of

the hands in connection with the sound. By age three he could pick out melodies quite

easily. Hampton says, “The only time my mother kept me close was when she was at

the piano and I’d put my hands on hers while she played; that was a kick, her hands

moved so beautifully and it was like I was playing.”

By age nine, he was excused from attending church, and would hold ‘’forbidden’’

boogie-woogie recitals at his house when it was empty. Hampton’s best early

influences were that of Earl Hines, Albert Ammons, the stride style of James P.

Johnson, the sophisticated styles of Teddy Wilson and Nat Cole. Also Fats Waller and

Art Tatum were influences. Hawes recognized Charlie Parker as “Ambition”, but he

realized Art Tatum as an earlier vocabulary explorer of chord structures by a decade.

He equated Parker’s rebellion as survival. Hampton had Parker and Powell as

influences eventually, but never felt to be swamped by them influentially. He had the

scope and brio to craft his own revision of Parker’s gospel. By his early teens he was

playing professionally, with a similar sound to Nat Cole. When his friend Eric Dolphy

introduced him to the Savoy recordings of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, his style

began to change direction. He first heard Parker play in 1945 and by 1947 had played

alongside him in a group.

Hampton’s personality is described as: skeptical, with a keen social observation,

unforgiving individualism, and suppressed rancor and downright disobedient. Hawes

had a “need” to spread himself musically and personally, and not ‘blanket like his

father’s socially scared church members. He became very popular within the Cali

crowd, but didn’t get bigger recognition until 1955. Prior to this, he was reluctant to

moving center-stage, which may have been due to him being quite nervous, also the

heroin addiction he acquired prior to his army service, which solidified during the service

(1952-1954). Lester Koenig signed Hampton Hawes to Contemporary Records in 1953,

and following his 2 years in the army, he recorded six albums in 1955 and 1956. These

are among his best and most accomplished recording released. After a 6 month

national tour in 1955, he was awarded the “New Star of the Year” for Down Beat

Magazine and 1956 “Arrival of the Year” for Metronome Magazine. Ahmad Jamal

referred to him as “The Master”. Hawes played with some fantastic musicians,

including: Red Mitchell (frequently throughout career), Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray,

Jim Hall, Barney Kessell, Charles Mingus, Art Pepper, etc. Although these

albums had significant success, Hawes was admittedly a wreck, to the point of often not

having the money for both drugs and food. He became the target of a narcotics drug

bust, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. In the weeks before jail, he recorded the

album, “The Sermon” in late November of 1958. It has intense emotion, strong melodies

and lots of variety. The renditions are quoted as being ‘haunting’ by reviewer Scott

Yanow. He was later pardoned by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, five years before

his sentence was scheduled to end. Hampton resumed recording and touring upon

being released from prison. While on a ten month tour to Europe, Asia, and the Middle

East he discovered that he’d become quite famous overseas. In these ten months, he

recorded 9 albums and performed for sold-out concert halls and was put on television

and media in Europe. Because he was completely self-taught and didn’t read music, he

was at a disadvantage and was excluded from session work that would have otherwise

lent him much fortune. Many consider Hampton Hawes hugely underachieved for his

own potential.

Hampton Hawes’ piano playing speaks for itself. He has a forceful two-handed style,

crisp right-hand lines delivered with deft and well-timed execution. His left-hand chords

and offbeat accents drive the music forward. There is tons of variation and relief in his

improvisation. Things like block chord passages, occasional hints of left hand in the

style of Eroll Garner, right-hand octaves that highlight the focal points or important notes

of the melody. One of his trademarks was ending a phrase with ascending thirds. He is

indebted to Bud Powell, with his long sweeping solo lines that cut across bar lines and

phrases of vintage bebop piano. His arrangements of written melody heads were full of

dynamics, counterpoint and invention, imagination and care. Hawes used a lot of space

between his phrasing, which has shape, definition and weight, relaxed continuity; rather

than a hurried rush to reach the end or his musical line. Hawes had unparalleled swing,

and a unique approach to time and harmony and its depth of emotional expression,

especially in a blues context.

Hawes’ speaks of the piano in his autobiography. “The piano was the only sure friend I

had because it was the only thing that was consistent, always made sense and

responded directly to what I did. Pianos don’t ever change. Sittin’ there every day. You

wanna play me, here I am. The D is still here, the A flat’s still here, they’re always going

to be there and it don’t matter its Sunday, Ash Wednesday, or the 4th of July. Play it

right and it comes out right; mess with it and it’ll make you back up. A piano don’t lie.

Check the prancing players with the sparkles in their eyes and the pretty fingernails

flashing up and down the keyboard – listen closely and that’s all there is, just flash and

icing, no more depth or meaning that a wood chip dancing down a waterfall. A keyboard

is more consistent than life, it gives you back what you put into it, no more, no less.

Hampton died of a brain hemorrhage in 1977 at the age of 48. In 2004, the city council

of Los Angeles declared November 13th ‘Hampton Hawes Day’ throughout the city.