Coleman Hawkins Picks 12 Greatest Tenormen

[MomsMobley]

in order of preference:

• Ben Webster
• Chu Berry
• Lester Young
• Georgie Auld
• Charlie Barnet
• Bud Freeman
• Don Byas
• Dexter Gordon
• Vido Musso
• Sam Donahue
• Bebe Russian Babe Russin
• Eddie Miller

- New York Age July 19, 1941

 

Edited 5 February by MomsMobley

[EKE BBB]

53 minutes ago, MomsMobley said:

in order of preference:

• Ben Webster
• Chu Berry
• Lester Young
• Georgie Auld
• Charlie Barnet
• Bud Freeman
• Don Byas
• Dexter Gordon
• Vido Musso
• Sam Donahue
• Bebe Russian
• Eddie Miller

- New York Age July 19, 1941

 

 

11th pick must be Babe Russin, obviously.

[MomsMobley]

fixed, thank you EKE!

[Shrdlu]

This is of great interest. Thanks for posting that article. Quite an impressive list!

Bean wasn't one to show off with flashy 16th-note runs, but awhile back, I came across a video of him doing a solo warmup, and he was rattling off a stream of rapid runs. It surprised me, because I had never heard him do that before. That dude could PLAY!

Overuse of rapid runs isn't in good taste, in my humble opinion. It is better to groove with simple phrases. Consider Red Garland and Lou Donaldson, for example. Usually very simple, and you know what's coming, but it is wonderful stuff.

[JSngry]

Dex already on the radar in 1941!

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Dex already on the radar in 1941!

No kidding!  He was still a teenager, right?  And playing with Lionel Hampton's band?  Pretty cool that he'd already caught Hawk's ear.  Also nice to see Hawk namechecking Bud Freeman and Eddie Miller as well.

[Peter Friedman]

Wonder what Coleman Hawkins list of 12 greatest tenor men would have looked like in 1962?

[Shrdlu]

Yes, it is remarkable that Dex was listed in 1941. It shows once again how hip Bean was. Of course, he greatly encouraged the boppers, for example having Monk and Diz in his group.

Like you, Peter, I would very much love to see a 1962 list. Of course, Bean knew Sonny, and recorded with Trane at a Monk session.

Johnny Hodges was also hip. He said that Trane's recording of "In A Sentimental Mood" was the best he had ever heard.

[Brad]

Interesting that Vido Musso is on the list. Not a lot to hear of him as a leader but what there is available is good. Obviously, Hawkins was listening to Goodman. 

Edited 5 February by Brad

[JSngry]

Maybe some PR angle to the list, or some of it anyway. Hawk was known to have, shall we say, "ambiguous" feelings about Prez, depending on who he was talking to and why. And there's the time he told somebody that the only one of his "peers" that he thought could really play was Chu Berry. With that in mind, I'd have to think that the only guy on that list that he probably had a wholehearted respect for was Don Byas.

Gotta say that the image of Hawk burning up the engine in his car trying to high-tail it to a Henderson gig because he had stayed all night into the morning trying in vain to best Ben & Prez at an after-hours jam in Kansas City is perhaps one of favorite mental images in all of life, especially in jazz. Those guys were warriors in every sense of the word.