He Hawes

I was introduced to the music of Hampton Hawes way back in the late 60’s – it was either the Green Leaves of Summer or The Trio Volume 1. I was working at the Vogue & Paramount Theatres in Sydney at the time. One of the cleaning staff at the Vogue was a total jazz fan & began to lend me lps to expand my jazz knowledge. Hawes plays restless piano – that is neither bop, swing or merely easy listening.

I loved those two lps & in fact these are the only two things I recall him lending me – though there were other musicians. Hawes playing & sidemen are precise, adventurous & fun. I made lp to cassette copies these lps. My friend had scotch taped the Downbeat reviews of both on the covers & Hawes was tightly regarded. He was also a major contrast to the jazz-rock that was about to wash over the scene.

In my collection I have as mp3 The All-Night Sessions Vols 1/2/3. The Trio, This Is, Everybody, High in the Sky; as lp to cd transfer:, Green Leaves; The Trio, Two Sides of, Spanish Steps, with Mingus, The Seance, Live in Tokyo. As stand alone: Bird Song, The Sermon. I guess this makes me a fan 😉

The recordings are trios, with sax, with sextet. He moves gradually from acoustic piano to electric keyboards – never electronica though. I don’t mind that electric piano tone but do prefer the acoustic. The material ranges from originals, jazz classics & covers of show tunes, pop standards. He is well worth adding to any jazz collection. iTunes has some nice inexpensive collections.

The Fridge

Fumbling in the dark to turn on the lamp Harv knocked it over. Shit. He didn’t know what woke him. Some sound outside. A combination of tire squeal and cat in pain that had cut through his dream about winning some big prize on a television cooking show.

Some bald woman was jumping beside him clinging to his left arm screaming he had done it. he had done it. The studio audience wasn’t as happy as her. In fact he sensed they had hoped he would lose. They were disappointed he had won an array of house-hold kitchen appliances. A chrome fridge so much like the one his folks had when he grew up. how long had it been since he’d seen one of those? The door opened with the same click too. He thought this sort of catch handle was now illegal so that kids couldn’t get trapped inside them when they were abandoned.

That happened to a cousin of his. Mark. Mark didn‘t come home from school one day and they searched for a week or so. Whose idea had it been to open that abandoned fridge door? Maybe some dog smelled the reek of the decaying body. Boy he was glad he didn’t have to be the one to open that door. That would have been awful though he never really liked Mark.

Mark so good at everything like sports and tests. Things that his Dad always reminded him of – oh I hear Mark got at an A on that science project you didn’t finish or Mark was voted best delivery boy by the paper. look there’s his picture on the inside page. Too bad you never got a paper route. Stuff like that.

It didn’t take long for everyone to forget about Mark and for a time after that when he opened the fridge to get an apple he’d be afraid Mark would be in there ready to fall out on him so he ate less and less. He lost his flabby fat and started to do a bit better in school too, only never as good as Mark and now here he was winning a fridge just like that one.

Harv pushed himself to the the edge of the bed and forced himself to the window. He didn’t need light to look out. Light would only attract attention to the blind being pushed aside. The street was empty. Maybe he hadn’t heard anything. He went to the light switch & turned it on. The lamp was right where it always was. He hadn’t knocked anything over. He turned off the light. Crawled back into the bed. Said one last fuck you Mark. I didn’t dare you to get into that fridge. It was your idea.

He fell asleep.