Hampton Hawes: Northern Windows Plus

HAMPTON HAWES
Northern Windows Plus

Northern Windows Plus is really two albums. The first, Playin’ in the Yard was recorded in 1973 and features Hawes on acoustic and electric piano, accompanied by bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Kenny Clarke. The second, Northern Windows, is a large group date with three saxes, two trumpets, a trombone, and drummer Spider Webb and bassist Carol Kaye, all arranged and produced by David Axelrod.

Playin’ In the Yard was recorded during a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 7, 1973. The funky, earthy tone of Hawes’ work and the easy relationship between the musicians gives this a very relaxed, conversational tone. It’s amazing to hear Hawes playing what sounds like a textbook definition of the hard bop/soul jazz style, and many players who were assumed to take Horace Silver as their main influence were probably equally influenced by Hawes. Each track displays the influence of blues, soul, and gospel and sounds utterly contemporary yet thoroughly within the straight ahead jazz tradition. It’s a great performance to have reissued, and should inspire many keyboard players today.

Northern Windows is a real treat, because you get to hear Hawes with a rhythm section that knew a variety of popular music genres very well. Spider Webb and Carol Kaye were present on many of David Axelrod’s sessions for a variety of artists, including Ray Charles, Herb Alpert, and Elvis Presley. Kaye is the quintessential studio professional, and teaches many up and coming bassists even today. Axelrod provides an elegant funkiness to the arrangements along with his trademark big drum sound. Hearing this date there’s no question that Hawes would have become a popular crossover artist and perhaps found a way to incorporate funk and rock elements into jazz without sacrificing the jazz side of the equation if he had lived. As it happened he died of a stroke only three years after Northern Windows was recorded. In the notes to the original album David Axelrod said that “Hampton had the potential to become one of the leading artists of his time—very hard swinging with incredible technique.” He also said that Northern Windows belonged “in the top five of all the albums that I have ever worked on…and that is a lot of albums.”

Neither of these albums was long enough in its original release to justify a CD reissue, but paired together on Northern Windows Plus, they perfectly compliment each other and offer testimony as to Hawes’ phenomenal talent.

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