"Comparatively little has been written on the art of jazz improvisation. How the jazzman plays notes, devises figures, invents rhythm, concocts chords which were not in his mind a moment before he plays them; how he succeeds in spontaneously altering the notes, chords, figures and rhythm patterns so as to achieve the freshness and a jazz feeling - these are the enigmas of the creative process. Of his approach to improvisation, here is what Hawes has revealingly said: 'You know the tune you're going to play and after you play the melody through, it comes time for you to blow. You build your solo on the chords as they go by and you use the chord changes to tell your story... Just like, maybe a painter painting a picture, he has his brushes. Well, his brushes are the chord changes. What he paints is what he's thinking about, so what kind of solo you play is what comes out of your mind, or the soul that you have for that song you're playing. I believe that the way a person thinks usually comes out in his playing. You've got to really feel what you're doing. Even the way my hands feel on the keys, that has a lot to do with what I play. I like my hands to feel good when they're playing. Like between the black notes and the white notes on the piano, when I'm phrasing I like to have my hands fall off right so I can feel like I'm getting into it. If I know my hands are feeling good, then I know that I'm phrasing right. If something feels awkward - well, I'm doing something wrong. I don't try to play too much at first. I like to start out just playing a few things and then keep building, chorus by chorus, until you reach a big climax, when you're playing to your fullest capabilities, in other words, where you're really doing everything you can do - then after than you cool it and give yourself a little rest and you're playing just a few things while you're thinking about something else to play... Sometimes I think about the melody. But before I think about the melody, I think about the 'underneath notes' of the melody - the harmony notes that move under the top notes and show where the chord goes...'
"Three concepts stand out in Hawes' statement. While they involve technical matters, their import may be grasped by the layman without resorting to technical exposition. The three concepts pivot on the words: climax, chord changes, and 'underneath notes'. Climax in improvisation is not different from climax in a story so that it is not too difficult to discern. Hawes' procedure in adding notes, chords and figures, chorus after chorus, may be studied in 'Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me' or 'Will You Still Be Mine' where the third choruses are like the full, complex, colorful flowers that have sprouted from the small, simple buds of the original melody. The building process involves a variation of chord changes and, in turn, of the 'underneath notes', which significantly determine the sequence of chords.
"Imitation is an important device for developing a piece of music and, of course, as an improvisational technique. It involved the repetition of a line or riff in another key, a different register, or on another instrument. As an instance of imitation, listen to the way guitarist Hall picks up and echoes Hawes' melodic line in 'Will You Still Be Mine' or 'Hampton's Pulpit'. In the latter, consider also the question and answer interplay between piano and bass, another device for variation. More important than either of these improvisational procedures is the shifting of accents and the variation of rhythm figures, which are wonderfully displayed in Hawes' improvised solos on 'April in Paris', 'Woody'n You' and 'Blue 'n Boogie'. Used imaginatively and with feeling, and not just manipulated mentally, these devices produce constantly fresh variants of well-known melodies.
"How an improviser handles these devices depends on a number of factors: specifically, on whether he is interested in a) motion or placidity, b) dissonance or prettiness, c) a thick sound or a delicate texture, d) static or shifting rhythm patterns, e) short or long melodic lines. To understand Hawes' handling of these factors, it will be helpful to see him in relation to other contemporary jazz pianists.
"At the moment, there are three axes in jazz piano. I prefer the word 'axis' to school or style because within any one so-called school, there are sufficient tension to make for a direction rather than a pat definition. For example, Brubeck and Tristano have more in common as representatives of a modern-classical-intellectual-far-out approach than Brubeck and Garner. Yet there also obvious contrast and conflicts. Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell as practitioners of bop piano share more characteristics than do Powell and Oscar Peterson. Yet there is an undeniable gulf between Monk's emphasis on an economy of notes as against Powell's tendency toward flooding and constant motion. Here then are the three major current axes in contemporary jazz piano: 1) a Garner-Tatum axis, stressing rich harmonies and the fullness and pumping beat of stride piano; 2) a Brubeck-Tristano axis, combining modern classical polyrhythms and polyharmonies with jazz improvisation; and 3) a Bud Powell-Thelonious Monk axis, stressing a single note, horizontal style, using the left hand for punctuation, and playing off the beat.
"Clearly, Hampton Hawes is closest to the bop axis of Powell and Monk. He strives for constant motion rather than placidity, tart rather than pretty harmonies, a delicate rather than a thick density, shifting rhythm pattersn, and longer rather than shorter lines.
"Within the bop axis, the main influence on Hawes' improvising comes from an alto sax player rather than any pianist. In 1947 when Hawes was just turning nineteen, one of the founders of bop, the late, great Charlie Parker came out to Hampton's native Los Angeles. Hawes not only met and listened to Bird, which proved a turning point in many a contemporary musician's career, but he played with him for almost two months in Howard McGhee's band. Not too long ago, Hawes described Parker's influence as having to do 'with Bird's conception of time.' Working with Parker, Hawes began taking liberties with time, 'playing double time or letting a couple of beats go by to make the beat stand out - not just playing on top of it all the time.' Hawes emphasizes: 'I think Parker has influenced me more than anybody, even piano players.'
"The Parker bop influence is apparent in 'All Night Session' in many ways, not the least significant being Hawes' choice of material. Included among the sixteen selections are four Gillespie compositions that have become bop classics - 'Groovin' High', 'Woody'n You', 'Two Bass Hit' and 'Blue 'n Boogie'. Comparison of Hawes' version of 'Woody'n You' with the Modern Jazz Quartet's chamber music treatment of the same reveals a style in which there is greater dissonance, more pronounced changes and a feeling of intensity that reminds one of Parker. Characteristic of these selections, and particularly of an original composition 'Takin' Care', is Parker's device of altering melodic passages containing few notes with figures full of gusts of fast-moving ones. (Arnold Shaw, March 26, 1958. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Hampton Hawes (pi), Jim Hall (gt), Red Mitchell (bs), Buzz Freeman (dr)
A1. I'll Remember April
A2. I Should Care
A3. Woody'n You
A4. Two Bass Hit
B1. Will You Still Be Mine
B2. April In Paris
B3. Blue 'N' Boogie
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