Hampton Hawes

The highly regarded bebop and hard-bop pianist Hampton Hawes was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father, Hampton Hawes, Sr., was minister of Westminster Presbysterian Church, and the first African-American to be voted into the National Presbyterian Senate. His mother, Gertrude, was the church pianist. Hawes' first experience with the piano was as a toddler sitting on his mother's lap while she practiced; he was reportedly able to pick out fairly complex tunes by the age of two. Entirely self-taught, by his teens Hawes was playing with some of the leading jazz musicians on the West Coast, including Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers, and Sonny Criss. His second professional job, at 19, was playing for eight months with the Howard McGhee Quintet at the Hi De Ho club, in a group that included Charlie Parker. After serving in the U.S. army in Japan from 1952-1954, Hawes formed his own trio, with the 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 Sessions - three records made during a non-stop recording session at the Contemporary Studios in Los Angeles. After a six-month national tour in 1956, Hawes won the 'New Star of the Year' award in a Down Beat magazine poll, and 'Arrival of the Year' in Metronome. The following year, Hawes would record in New York with Charles Mingus, on the album Mingus Three (1957, Roulette.)