Jazz Articles about Coleman Hawkins

like 429

Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins

by Samuel Chell
April 6, 2008

This extraordinary 1962 session was the realization of a promise made thirty years earlier between the maestro, Duke Ellington, and the father of the tenor saxophone, Coleman Hawkins, that they would some day make a record together. Released a mere two months ahead of the largely iconic Ellington-Coltrane meeting, the earlier date is distinguished by the creative energies and commitment both men bring to the proceedings, with Ellington producing a scaled-down version of one of his best bands and Hawkins ...

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Max Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite

by Chris May
October 8, 2007

Re-released following the passing of drummer Max Roach in August 2007, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (Candid, 1960) remains a work of enduring musical and social importance. Notwithstanding Roach's central role in the creation of bop, or his later hard bop explorations with trumpeter Clifford Brown, it is, by some margin, the most perfectly realised album he recorded. 1960 was the year in which black Americans' struggle for civil rights reached critical mass. In February, anti-segregationist lunch-counter sit-ins ...

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Coleman Hawkins: The Hawk Relaxes

by Samuel Chell
April 9, 2007

Coleman Hawkins had every right to rest on his laurels by the time of this 1961 recording. But The Hawk Relaxes finds the father of the tenor saxophone--aka Hawk or Bean--doing anything but clinging to his perch. He may no longer be soaring in search of prey but he's gliding on buoyant and vital air-streams, performing to near-perfection an all-ballad program that rewards the attentive listener at each turn.

When the history of the tenor saxophone was being ...

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Coleman Hawkins: At Ease with Coleman Hawkins

by Matt Cibula
December 14, 2006

In this crazy run-around world where we never really have time to stop and appreciate all the good things in our lives, it is pretty hard to make time for Coleman Hawkins. But that is precisely why it is so important to do so. They really never invented a saxophone player better than him, and very few musicians have ever gotten closer to what jazz is supposed to be.

At Ease with Coleman Hawkins, originally released in 1960, is like ...

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Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul Remixed!

by John Eyles
April 1, 2006

This release seems likely to re-open a heated debate and cause controversy. Should classic and famous jazz performances--such as Hawk's “Body and Soul --be treated with reverence and respect and be left in peace? Or can they be used as source material for further explorations, however remote from the mood and spirit of the original? Yes, I know this is not a new debate (or a particularly fruitful one?). One only has to think of the animated reaction to Bill ...

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Coleman Hawkins: The Hawk Flies High

by David Rickert
December 1, 2004

Many of the great improvisers from the swing era were unable to hurdle the bebop fence into relevance in the fifties, but Coleman Hawkins continued to create worthwhile records up until the end of his life. How? Not by changing his style to suit the times, but by demonstrating that his approach could fit into a variety of contexts. Thus he was able to gig with Coltrane and Monk where others might have faltered. But Hawkins also continued to lead ...

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Coleman Hawkins: The Centennial Collection

by Joel Roberts
October 2, 2004

Though it won't get the attention of the recent Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong centennials, the 100th anniversary of Coleman Hawkins' birth, coming up on November 21, certainly warrants celebration from jazz fans. Dubbed the “father of the tenor saxophone," Hawkins was a vital force on the jazz scene for five decades, moving through the swing era to bebop and beyond. Bluebird's “Centennial Collection" begins and ends, appropriately enough, with two renditions of the tune Hawkins is ...