MITCH HAMPTON
Mitch Hampton received his degrees (BM in jazz piano and MM in composition) from the New England Conservatory of Music. Hampton also received the Down Beat Award for Jazz Piano in 1989 while at the Interlochen Academy. As a jazz pianist, he has performed with both a jazz sextet and his own trio in the Boston area.
As a composer, he has had works premiered by groups such as the Ciompi String Quartet at Duke University in North Carolina, the Berlin Saxophone Quartet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Maryland Bach Aria group as well as pieces premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. He recorded an orchestral waltz with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra (MMC2008) as well a concerto for jazz piano and orchestra with the Prague Radio Philharmonic to be released by MMC in early 1996.
Hampton's first jazz release, Mitch Plays, continues to receive stellar reviews: "[Hampton is] a highly gifted pianist/composer and a very witty one to boot, a master of shifting tempi, odd meters, and stop-on-a-dime syncopations" says Cadence. "The trio cuts are uniformly good... a real attention grabber and this reviewer found it intriguing enough to really want to find out just what this guy Mitch Hampton would do next...Recommended without hesitation."
An accomplished writer as well, he contributes essays on film and the arts to Organica, a journal of arts and humanistic sciences.
FROM MITCH SWINGS (MMC2052J)
A musically astute listener, one with a wide (listener's) knowledge of both American popular music and European art music, should recognize many quotes and allusionssome cutesy (even kitschy), some bizarre, some merely musicalembedded inside the compositions, arrangements, and especially improvisations on this album. For that matter, even a relatively inexperienced "lay" listener has a lot of musical nostalgia to discover. This was quite intentional. I am eclectic in my tastes, and the pastiche quality of the musicwith its references to Chopin, Bach, Broadway show tunes, rhythm and blues etc.seems a logical conclusion to such a sensibility. Hopefully part of the delight for the listener can be picking out these references during repeated hearings. So as not to spoil the listener's treasure hunt, I will not divulge too much. However, in the first tune, Cheek To Cheek, there is a bit of Ireland (Glocca Morra) and Broadway cowboy (Rogers and Hammerstein) along with Irving Berlin. There are, of course, precedents for such an approach and these folks have inspired me most: pianist Ahmad Jamal, the classic bebop soloists (especially tenor saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon), and of course Charles Ives. All were (and are) as playful and ironic as they were serious.
FROM MITCH PLAYS (MMC2007J)
"Making my first CD has been a real treat. Let me first give credit to the wonderful musicians who supported me in this venture: Billy Hart and Rufus Reid. I grew up admiring their work in the 70s, Billy with Herbie Hancock and Rufus with the late, great Dexter Gordon. I want to thank my parents, Aubrey and Julie Hampton, for providing me with the richest emotional and cultural foundation for my personal and music journey. Also, special thanks to my musical mentor William Thomas McKinley, to Peter Kelly, to all the engineers at The Outpost and Blue Jay Recording Studio, and to Jonathan Wyner at Masterworks. Special thanks also to Stanley Cowell, my jazz piano teacher at the New England Conservatory, who captured my imagination about the possibilities of solo jazz piano (though his own great playing!) and taught me about form and structure in improvising. Carol Green receives the warmest thanks for her creative photographic concept and incredible eye, which matched her aesthetic to mine. Without all these people, the CD you hold in your hand would not have been possible."
NOW AVAILABLE- MITCH SWINGS (MMC2052J)