Hampton Hawes – At the Piano | All-Star-Time im Studio von Contemporary. Am 14. August 1976 nimmt Hampton Hawes mit Ray Brown und Shelly Manne auf. Los geht es mit „Killing Me Softly“ und der Groove sitzt schnell, Brown spielt ziemlich tolle Bass-Linien, Manne findet einen eleganten Beat. An Ende der ersten Seite steht „Funny“, dazwischen Hawes‘ „Soul Sign Eight“. „Morning“ von Hawes klingt mit dem kreisenden Bass-Lick und der reduzierten Melodie zunächst fast wie ein Stück von Abdullah Ibrahim, doch dann verschiebt sich das Riff und das wird alles etwas elaborierter – eine grossartige Performance mit einem sparsamen, fast kargen Solo von Hawes und Manne, der auf zwei und vier ein dumpfes Becken schlägt, dazu trommelt und grummelt. Es folgt ein zartes „Blue in Green“ und dann zum Abschluss eine tolle, sehr poetische und dank Brown zugleich sehr funky Version eines Lieblingssongs, „When I Grow Too Old to Dream“. Ein etwas verhaltenes und durch die Umstände auch trauriges Albums, das allerdings echt gut geworden ist, obwohl es zunächst halbfertig im Regal blieb, bevor es 1978 erschien.
Statt Liner Notes hat man ein Interview transkribieren lassen, das Hawes (er starb am 22. Mai 1977) mit Lester Koenig (der am 21. November darauf auch starb) führte, am 20. Januar 1977. Die Session steht nicht nur am Ende von Hawes‘ Leben sondern auch am Ende des ersten, wichtigsten Kapitels von Contemporary:
In August 1976, Lester Koenig brought Hampton Hawes back to the studio and captured tracks for what would eventually become S7637 Hampton Hawes at the Piano. Lester was still busy preparing the LP when the pianist died the following May, unexpectedly, at 48.
The loss hit Lester hard. Among all musicians, John Koenig has said, Hamp was his father’s “best friend.”⁽⁹⁾ Their final session retreated to the shelf unfinished.
A few months later, Les lost another old friend and colleague in Jack Lewerke. Jack had joined GTJ as general manager back in 1950, and the ensuing decade saw him and Lester link up on multiple ventures such as California Record Distributors and Interdisc.⁽¹⁰⁾ They remained close friends throughout the years. Lester served as pallbearer at the funeral.⁽¹¹⁾
Later that week, Lester fell ill and was rushed to hospital. Two days later, November 21, he died. He was 59.
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(9) Kevin van den Elzen. “West Coast Jazz Hour #40 with John Koenig.” YouTube, YouTube Video, 31 Aug. 2021, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbcYtNB2e2w. Accessed 2023.
(10) “Heart Attack Claims Independent California Distrib Jack Lewerke.” Billboard, vol. 89, no. 47, Nov. 1977, p. 10. Google Books.
(11) “Les Koenig, Label Owner, Dies of Heart Attack in Los Angeles.” Billboard, vol. 89, no. 48, Dec. 1977, p. 15. Google Books.
Quelle: https://www.8481melrose.com/mastering-history-volume-three
Im Interview erklärt Hawes einiges über sein Spiel und sein Musikverständnis – und auch, warum er anders klinge als alle anderen: Er habe sich alles selbst beibringen müssen, was dazu führe, dass Leute ihm sagen: „you finger funny“ – aber „it’s the only way I know to get it done, maybe because I finger funny it sounds different. You know, maybe I turned a weak point into a strong point. […] I wouldn’t call it a weakness … unorthodox, that’s it. […] I depend on my ear and just my heart and my determination, and maybe that’s the difference that you hear. That fact that I never took any lessons is why you can tell me.“ Hawes erklärt, dass Erroll Garner genau so ein Fall sei, oder Charlie Parker und Wes Montgomery. Koenig: „In other words, you invented playing the piano or yourself.“ – Hawes: „I invented playing the piano for myself because I had to do. That was the only way I was going to get the job done.“
Dann die Frage, ob Klavierspielen Arbeit („work“) sei, „do you enjoy yourself or is it work? Do you ever feel like you’re just going to a job?“ – Hawes: „No, I never feel like I’m just going to a job. Every time before I play the piano, when I get up on the bandstand and sit down there’s some adrenalin, like the chemicals in my body change. I’ve even had people tell me my face changes. When I sit down at the piano it is work, because when I’m finished I’m drained; but it’s the most beautiful drain, and you’re tired, but it’s really comfortable, it’s a gratifying tired because I feel like I did something. It is work, and I love it. I’m going to always play the piano, you know. In fact, might want to be buried in one in case my ghost might come back. The ghost might become popular. I could play piano down there. I don’t care …“
Koenig fragt dann nach dem Wandel seit den ersten Jahren von Hawes‘ Aktivitäten, wie er inzwischen selbst zum Einfluss auf andere Leute geworden sei, ob er andere Pianisten verfolge/anhöre. Hawes meint, er sei sehr vorsichtig damit, was er höre. „If I listen to anything, I listen to classical music, you know. I enjoy listening to other piano players because there are good ones around and I’ve heard them on the radio […] They’ve got about four or five real good pianists today.“ – Und natürlich will Koenig wissen, wen er damit meint: „Well, like Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, you know, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, you know, Roland Hanna, and other pianists that are good that a lot of people don’t know about, like David Paich, Joe Sample, you know; Ahmad Jamal’s good.“ Hawes erklärt dann auch noch, dass er nicht wie bei Charlie Parker auf der Suche nach Einflüssen und Ideen hinhöre, „because I don’t want to hear anything that I like that might seep in. Things seep in there anyway, and nobody can say that they have never played anything that they heard that they thought was good, because if they do, they’re lying; because everybody has, even Miles, even Bird.“
Zum Album befragt, holt Hawes dann etwas aus: „Playing the piano is when I am the happiest, and you were the first person that recognized my worth and gave me an opportunity to do that. So, coming to make this album now with you, it was almost like a spring drink of water because, see, when I came to make the album with you, I knew that all of that stuff that was on my mind I could throw away. I didn’t have to worry about no charts. I didn’t have to worry about … ‚is this the in thing?‘ Only thing I had to do was sit down and play the piano, you know; and to me it was very refreshing because that’s what I needed, because, actually, that’s what I’m all about.“
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #169: Pianistinnen im Trio, 1984–1993 – 13.01.2026, 22:00: #170 – 19.02.2026, 20:00; #171 – 10.03.2026, 22:00; #172 – 14.04.2026, 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba