Hampton Hawes, a bop-oriented pianist in the '50s, continued to develop and evolve throughout his career without losing his musical identity. For this trio set with bassist
Henry Franklin and drummer
Michael Carvin, Hawes shows the influence of
McCoy Tyner a bit and, by performing
Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's in Love with You" (along with four other group originals), he shows his openness to including some pop material in his repertoire (although his explorative version owes little to the original hit tune). This excellent live session has plenty of close interplay by the tight trio. ~ Scott Yanow