The Sermon has been found

The Sermon. It didn't move me to religious ecstasy.

not terribly inspired

It took some digging but I found the album deep in my collection and it’s been spinning this afternoon. The trio is top-notch: Hampton Hawes – piano, Leroy Vinnegar – bass and Stan Levey – drums. You’d think that trio would be killer and on another date they would have been. On this night however, it just doesn’t come together. There isn’t that magic that appears when a band and the material is right. 

Maybe that’s the problem: the material.

I get that Hampton was looking ahead to years in prison and that may have left him thinking of the beyond but the choice to do an all spirituals album didn’t work, at least not to my ears. The music isn’t bad, it just isn’t as great as you’d expect from these three.

So let me give a recommendation since I know I piqued your interest about Hampton Hawes these past few days. What album should you buy?

I’ll give you options.

1. I spoke about the ‘All Night Sessions’ album and that’s a classic.

2. If that’s not enough, you could pick up ‘The Trio: Complete Sessions with Red Mitchell and Chuck Thompson'. 35 tracks of goodness that you could pick up cheap.

3. If you want to hear him in different context with a horn player, which you don’t get to hear often with him, how about ‘For Real!’ Harold Land plays some fantastic sax on this album. It’s also one of the few recordings made with Scott LeFaro who would join Bill Evans in June 1961 for his seminal Live at the Village Vanguard recordings (and die tragically in July).

If you want a taste, have a listen to the title track. It starts with Scott LeFaro walking us in and then comes the band. It's a swinging 11 minutes that I know you'll enjoy.