Four! is a 1958 album by Hampton Hawes, originally released on the Contemporary label and reissued in 1991 by Original Jazz Classics.

Four!
Studio album by
Released1958
RecordedJanuary 27, 1958
GenreJazz
Length53:00
LabelContemporary
ProducerLester Koenig
Hampton Hawes chronology
All Night Session! Vol. 3
(1956)
Four!
(1958)
For Real!
(1958)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Penguin Guide to Jazz[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]

Reception edit

AllMusic's Scott Yanow gives the album five stars and states that "Pianist Hampton Hawes' 1950s recordings for the Contemporary label are at such a high level that they could all be given five stars. This outing with bassist Red Mitchell, drummer Shelly Manne, and guitarist Barney Kessel (who is a slight wild card) is also quite successful."[1] The Penguin Guide to Jazz rates the album three and a half stars and states that "Hampton was always trying to broker a style which combined the strengths of old and new, and this was one of the places where the synthesis worked and showed the joins."[2]

Track listing edit

  1. "Yardbird Suite" (Parker) - 6:40
  2. "There Will Never Be Another You" (Gordon, Warren) - 6:59
  3. "Bow Jest" (Mitchell) - 6:31
  4. "Sweet Sue" (Young, Harris) - 5:35
  5. "Up Blues" (Hawes) - 5:09
  6. "Like Someone in Love" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 3:21
  7. "Love Is Just Around the Corner" (Gensler, Robin) - 5:42
  8. "Thou Swell" (Hart, Rodgers) - 4:54 (CD reissue bonus track)
  9. "The Awful Truth" (Hawes) - 8:09 (CD reissue bonus track)

Personnel edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Allmusic review
  2. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (6th Ed.) Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140515213
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 97. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.