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The COLEMAN HAWKINS thread


EKE BBB

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There´s no thread on the father of tenor sax so far... and I couldn´t resist!

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The more I listen to him, the more I realize how great he was!

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This board is clearly Prez-bent, but I think Hawk deserves as much merit as the great Lester Young does. Love them all!

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Favorite era? Favorite recordings? Comments on his influence on the evolution of tenor sax and jazz in general. Sax in the spotlight. His tone, his harmonic developments.... Let´s discuss Bean here!

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I am a definite fan. I was only listening yesterday to Coleman Hawkins/Roy Eldridge 'At the Opera House', and thinking how great he was.

Some favourites, though?

Well, I guess obviously 'Body and Soul' is simply one of the very greatest interpretations of any tune we're likely to hear, but I also really enjoy (amongst countless others!)

Hello Lola

and

One Hour.

I imagine some people here got to see him live? My father did, although I'm far too young, unfortunately!

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... I was only listening yesterday to Coleman Hawkins/Roy Eldridge 'At the Opera House', and thinking how great he was...

That´s one I´ve been wishing to pick for long, Red!

Another good one with Little Jazz (and with the Rabbit) is "Alive! At the Village Gate!" (Verve, 1962).

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Some good blowing there! Just listen to Hawk on "Satin doll"

BTW: someone, in an old thread at AAJ, mentioned that in the original vinyl version, Eldridge was dreadfully out of tune in "The rabbit in jazz", but this was corrected when transfered to CD. Anyone knew about this?

And just another live recording, with the same title, the same rhythm section (Tommy Flanagan, Major Holley, and Eddie Locke) and from the same year... but without Hodges and Eldridge is "Alive! At the Village Vanguard!" (Verve, 1962).

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Oh man, that version of "It´s the talk of the town" is simply.....

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One of my favorite Hawk's, which I was just listening to yesterday, is the Classics 1929-34 release. The music is great, but even better is to hear his progression to reigning tenor in a few years. Highly recommended. I too have more Hawk than Lester-but both are incomparable in their own way.

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I'm a big fan of Hawkins!

Favourites include the Keynotes, the Hollywood dates with McGhee, the stuff on the Delmark/Apollo CD, then the encounter with Ben Webster, Alive, and his Impulse quartet date, as well as the great encounter with the Duke.

I don't have any of his Prestige dates so far.

ubu

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There are plenty of wonderful Prestige/Moodsville/Swingville dates, ubu!

To name some of them that come to my mind now:

-Soul (1958)

-CH with the Red Garland trio (1959)

-Hawk eyes (1959)

-At ease with CH (1960)

-CH All Stars featuring Vic Dickenson and Joe Thomas (1960)

-Night hawk (1960)

-CH & Pee Wee Russell: Jam session in Swingville (1961)

-The hawk relaxes (1961)

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This board is clearly Prez-bent, but I think Hawk deserves as much merit as the great Lester Young does.

Definitely. And Hawk played well for very much longer than Pres. As one liner note writer said in the 60s "he hasn't peaked yet." (Mark Gardner, I think.)

Try his three recordings with Kenny Burrell on Prestige. If these had been Blue Note sessions, I think they would have received a lot more attention in recent years. Is there not a "Fantasy syndrome", that is, do we tend not to buy many OJC CDs "because they are not limited editions and I can order them later after I rush to grab the Blue Note, Mosaic and Japanese CDs before they disappear"? I have definitely been that way.

Anyway, I heard a sampler CD of Burrell a few years back and there was this lovely track "Tres Palabras" with Bean (also featuring Tommy Flanagan in great form). It made me want to get all the Burrell/Hawkins albums. The titles are "Bluesy Burrell", "Soul" and "The Hawk Relaxes".

Another superb collection, some of these not often mentioned, are Bean's Impulse albums. "Today and Now" is very good, as is the bossa album "Desafinado". The better-known one with the Duke (no, not John Wayne) is a gem, partly because it gives a unique opportunity to hear Bean in a small horn section with Ray Nance, Rabbit, Lawrence Brown and Harry Carney.

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I'm at work, so I don't have it with me, but I found a Hawkins disc titled "Body and Soul" that was labelled as a live recording from ... somewhere in South America. Roy Eldridge was on it, and I think Philly Joe Jones was the drummer ... but there was no indication of the CD's manufacturer, and I couldn't find anything like it on AMG.

Ring a bell with anyone?

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Man I love Bean. . . He's like a flippin' typhoon sometimes, and he's like a salty summer breeze sometime, and he's always a force who calls you to attention.

One that I keep coming back to time and again is "Night Hawk." Hawk and Lockjaw and Flannagan. . . wow. . . it's got it all.

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Then of course there's my favorite Sonny Rollins session. . .

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Sonny and Hawk doing a nice boxing ring dance. I LOVE what Hawk does on this one so much!

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I'm at work, so I don't have it with me, but I found a Hawkins disc titled "Body and Soul" that was labelled as a live recording from ... somewhere in South America. Roy Eldridge was on it, and I think Philly Joe Jones was the drummer ... but there was no indication of the CD's manufacturer, and I couldn't find anything like it on AMG.

Ring a bell with anyone?

At first I thought you might be referring to the Bayou club recordings, but I see from the literature that Roy and Hawk recorded with Joe Jones ( not Philly Joe) in Buenos Aires June 16 1961. Body and Soul was one of the tunes.

These are aparently part of a West Wind CD entitled Jazz Festival in Latin America.. there were 6 tracks, Body was a feature for Hawk, The Man I love for Roy.

Love for sale a trio for Tommy Flanagan.

The rest of the Cd was by other artists.

This may be what you have or some bootlegged verion of it.

Edited by P.D.
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A few more for the list:

"Hawk Flies High" an OJC essential IMO.

Vogue's "Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Hodges in Paris".

For early Hawk up to the pre-bop years, outside of Fletcher Henderson's band, there was/is a 6 disc collection issued by Affinity which collects his music with Red McKenzie (Hello Lola, One Hour - beautiful!) and his tour of Europe from '34 - '39. The set is OOP but contains fantabulous music and in pretty good sound - absolutely essential. ^_^

Not forgetting also Hawk was right up there when the bop movement was in its infancy, encouraging the new players in their new music. For a one disc sampler I would single out the Delmark release "Rainbow Mist" and for a larger collection Proper's "The Bebop Years". Too bad Mosaic can't do a comprehensive set for this period.

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What do you think about his European period (1934-39)???

Some months ago I picked the Timeless "Coleman Hawkins in Europe 1934-39".

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It contains various dispersed sessions from that era:

-CH quartet (with pianist Stanley Buck), London Nov 18, 1934 gives us a pretty good cover of Waller´s "Honeysuckle Rose"

-Michael Warlop Paris sides are less interesting (I don´t like that "Blue Moon"). But from the same date, there´s an interesting track (originally OLA-349-1) with Grappelli on piano and Reinhardt: "Stardust". Was this the only release by this trio?

-Then CH with the Berries (Zurich, april 1936) with Hawk on some forgettable vocals on "Love cry"!!!; with the Danish jazzers the Ramblers (Laren, April 26, 1937); CH quartet (Hilversum, May 26, 1937) and CH with Jack Hilton and his orchestra (London, May 26, 1939)

How could I complete these 5 years with little duplication? (I know Classics has two volumes: 1934-37 and 1937-39, but as I´ve already picked this Timeless release, I was thinking about something different from Classics, if there is...

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One of my favorite Hawk's, which I was just listening to yesterday, is the Classics 1929-34 release.  The music is great, but even better is to hear his progression to reigning tenor in a few years...

I also think that´s a fabulous disc, clandy! :tup

Wonderful early out-of-Fletcher´s-Orchestra stuff with some top-notch players like Pee Wee, Procope, Red Allen, Higginbotham, Claude Jones, Kirby, Rollini, Condon, Clayton..... a neverending list!

The disc starts with the legendary Red McKenzie´s Mound City Blue Blowers "Hello Lola" and "One hour" sides, continues with some Jack Purvis, and keeps on getting better and better with each new track. Just listen to those three duets with Buck Washington at the end of the CD "It sends me", "I ain´t got nobody" and one of my favorite songs, "On the sunny side of the street"!

EDIT: now listening! If only for Bean´s solo in the ballad "I´ve got to sing a torch song" included in the October 3, 1933 six pieces session by Horace Henderson and his Orchestra (with the likes of Red Allen, Claude Jones and Dick Wells), this disc is worth its price!

Edited by EKE BBB
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New Fresh Sound Records release:

The Complete Jazztone Recordings 1954

Coleman Hawkins

FSRCD 347

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Featuring: Coleman Hawkins (ts), Billy Taylor (p), Milt Hinton (B), Jo Jones (d), Emmett Berry (tp), Eddie Bert (tb)

Recorded in NYC, 1954

Track listing:

1. Get Happy (Arlen/Koehler) - 5:35

2. If I Had You (Campbell/Connelly/Shapiro) - 4:33

3. Lullaby of Birdland (Shearing/Weiss) - 5:14

4. Time on My Hands (Adamson/Gordon/Youmans) - 7:42

5. Out of Nowhere (Green/Heyman) - 6:45

6. Ain't Misbehavin' (Brooks/Razaf/Waller) - 7:33

7. Blue Lou (Mills/Sampson) - 5:07

8. Stompin' at the Savoy (Goodman/Razaf/Sampson/Webb) - 6:17

9. Cheek to Cheek (Berlin) - 8:05

10. Just You, Just Me (Greer/Klages) - 6:08

11. Honeysuckle Rose (Razaf/Waller) - 2:58

12. Undecided (Robin/Shavers) - 4:47

Review:

"This 1954 studio date by Coleman Hawkins finds the tenor saxophonist in great form, joined by a fine group that includes pianist Billy Taylor, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Jo Jones, trombonist Eddie Bert, and trumpeter Emmett Berry. Hawkins' boppish take on "Cheek to Cheek" moves at a fast clip, though he never exhausts himself of ideas. The full sextet is heard on a portion of the session, including a lush but brisk take of "Lullaby of Birdland," a snappy run through "Get Happy," and the old swinger "Blue Lou." There are many strong solos by the supporting cast, but it's difficult to eclipse the sound of Hawkins' tenor when he is in top form as on this CD."

— Ken Dryden (All Music Guide)

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Anyone knows if

Chilton, John: The Song Of The Hawk, The Life And Recordings Of Coleman Hawkins (The University Of Michigan Press, 1990)

&

Allen, Walter C.: Hendersonia - The Music Of Fletcher Henderson And His Musicians ( Jazz Monographs No 4, Highland Park, 1973 )

are still available?

Edited by EKE BBB
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This one includes some great Hawk, especially on "Stuffy" (he´s featured on three tracks):

The complete Essen jazz festival (Black lion, 1960)

Bud, Pettiford, Klook & Hawk

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That's a real good one! Actually it seems Pettiford was billed the leader at the actual concert, not Powell!

What I do find a bit tiring about Hawk sometimes, is his rather stiff phrasing. While harmonically, he's all over the place and then some, his phrases consisting almost entirely of eights can be a bit exhaustive. I had this problem also when listening to "Today and Now", which is one of my favourite Hawk discs, actually. I then have to turn the disc off immediately, and stop listening to Hawk for a few days...

Also one of his late discs (recorded at the Leftbank, released on Enja) has the same effect on me, sometimes.

ubu

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