Eddie Costa - The House Of Blue Lights (1959)

An amazingly individual and very little known vibes and piano virtuoso who was sadly robbed from jazz in a fatal car accident at the insanely young age of 32 in his last piano trio recording as a leader - a must listen. His approach to the keyboard brings to mind Lennie Tristano, no less.


Personnel:
Eddie Costa (p)
Wendell Marshall (b)
Paul Motian (ds)

Track Listing
1. House of Blue Lights (Gigi Gryce)
2. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers-Hart)
3. Diane (E. Rapee-L. Pollack)
4. Annabelle (Eddie Costa)
5. When I Fall in Love (Heyman-Young)
6. What’s to Ya (Eddie Costa)

Recorded in NYC, Jan. 29 & Feb. 2, 1959

Pedro Iturralde Quartet featuring Hampton Hawes (1968)

Great music from Spanish multi - reedist Pedro Iturralde and his quartet circa 1968 featuring the great Hampton Hawes who was visiting Europe at the time with both men at the peak of their powers -- this is jazz of the take-no-prisoners-late-night kind, enjoy

Personnel

Pedro Iturralde: reeds
Hampton Hawes: piano
Eric Peter: bass
Peer Wyboris: drums


Track listing

On Green Dolphin Street
Black Forest (Hampton Hawes) Blues
Autumn Leaves
Oleo
Moonlight In Vermont
My Funny Valentine

Hampton Hawes - I'm All Smiles (1966)

Another great Hawes date recorded on April 30 and May 1, 1966 in performance at Mitchell's Studio Club in LA in the able company of Messrs Red Mitchell on bass and Donald Bailey on drums clearly demonstrating that the best jazz is live jazz.

Track Listing:

I'm All Smiles
Manha De Carnaval
Spring Is Here
The Shadow Of Your Smile
Searchin'

Hampton Hawes & Martial Solal - Key For Two (1968)

Enter two African - Americans, one of them living permanently in France (Kenny Clarke) and two Frenchmen, one of them being born in Algiers (a pied noir or "black foot" as the Frenchies call them), two pianos, a bass and a set of drums and a very interesting musical situation can develop. I know, a jazz quartet with two pianos sounds bizarre but if you are a virtuoso in the mold of Hampton Hawes and Martial Solal these are mere formalities, enjoy.

Personnel:
Hampton Hawes: piano
Martial Solal: piano
Pierre Michelot: bass
Kenny "Clook" Clarke: drums

Rec. Paris, Jan. 1968

Track listing:
Key For Two
Stella By Stralight
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
Bag's Groove
Lover, Come Back To Me
Fly Me To The Moon
The Theme
Godchild
Three For Two

Hampton Hawes - The Green Leaves Of Summer (1964)

This 1964 recording was Hampton Hawes’s first in more than five years. It radiates the sense of freedom the pianist felt after John F. Kennedy granted him a presidential pardon halfway through a ten-year sentence for substantial indiscretion. The session made it plain that Hawes was still one of the most important pianists in jazz, as inventive as ever and with added richness in his harmonic structures. Hawes heard special qualities in Dmitri Tiomkin’s “The Green Leaves of Summer,” gave it one of his loveliest introductions, and made it a memorable jazz waltz. The album has special treatments of pieces by Davis, Rollins, Arlen, and Berlin, and includes one of Hawes’s custom-tailored blues.

with Monk Montgomery (Wes' brother) on bass and Steve Ellington on drums.

TRACKLISTING

* 1. Vierd Blues
* 2. The Green Leaves Of Summer
* 3. Ill Wind
* 4. St. Thomas
* 5. Secret Love
* 6. Blue Skies
* 7. The More I See You
* 8. G.K. Blues