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Message from Hawk.

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The immortal Coleman Hawkins for this first Sunday in November (and back to Standard time to boot) – recorded in Stockholm by Sveriges Radio on May 20, 1958.

One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: “There were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn.” Coleman Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as “mooing” and “rubbery belches”. Coleman Hawkins denied being first and noted his contemporaries Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins’s virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Barnet, Tex Beneke, Ben Webster, Vido Musso, Herschel Evans, Buddy Tate, and Don Byas, and through them the later tenormen, Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Ike Quebec, Al Sears,^[4] Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson.  While Coleman Hawkins became known with swing music during the big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.

Fellow saxophonist Lester Young, known as the “President of the Tenor Saxophone”, commented, in a 1959 interview with The Jazz Review: “As far as I’m concerned, I think Coleman Hawkins was the president, first, right? As far as myself, I think I’m the second one.”  Miles Davis once said: “When I heard Hawk, I learned to play ballads.”

So to get a taste of what they were all talking about, here is a memorable gig from Coleman Hawkins, along with Sonny Stitt – alto saxophone, Roy Eldridge – trumpet,Dizzy Gillespie – trumpet, Lou Levy – piano, Pete Johnson – piano, Joe Turner – vocals, Herb Ellis – guitar, Ray Brown – bass, Max Bennett – bass and Gus Johnson – drums.

Press play and relax. It’s Sunday. It’s November – got a busy week ahead of you. But now . . .

The post Coleman Hawkins – Stockholm – 1958 – Past Daily Downbeat appeared first on Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History And Music.