Pianist Hampton Hawes cut his teeth on L.A.'s Central Avenue scene in the late ‘40s, playing alongside the likes of Teddy Edwards and Dexter Gordon, before launching a dynamic solo career in the mid-'50s. He blended searing velocity and a percussive touch into a surprisingly airy sound, and his trio recordings remain unparalleled: There's a nonchalant lyric splendour on “All the Things You Are,” while he remakes Monk's bittersweet “‘Round Midnight” with an aching tenderness. His brilliance was undiminished in the presence of additional melodists, such as guitarist Barney Kessel on a buoyant “There Will Never Be Another You.”