You can argue until you are blue in the face as to who has been the “best” tenor saxist of all time, but there is no arguing who the first actually was, and many still argue that he was also the best, namely Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969). Not only did he turn the tenor sax from a rhythmic “oompah” machine to a lyrical reed instrument, but he changed and invented the times in three different era, being on the first swing, bebop and hard bop recordings. And what have you done lately?
Here, you’ve got two sets of four discs featuring 8 albums each. While they don’t include his early swing and ballad pieces like “Body and Soul”, they do include his essential 1945 early bop recordings that defined the genre, teaming with Hard McGhee on “Bean Stalking”, a gorgeous “April In Paris” and swinging “Stuffy”. His rich tone and sophisticated harmonic work is displayed on a breathy “It’s The Talk of the Town” and overwhelming “How Deep Is The Ocean”, a solo that is used in jazz textbooks, thank you.
His ability to swing like no other is shown on ”Voodte” and a hip “The Man I Love’ while he gets visceral with sub ones on “I Surrender Dear”. An intriguing1954 session has Hawkins backed by an organ team for “September Song” and “Confessin’”, with a ’55 conglomerate album includes a collection of lyrical gems like “Lonely Wine” and “Midnight Sun”. During this era, Hawkins also experimented with a string section, releasing an impressive album of arias such as “Autumn Leaves” and “Strangers In Paradise”. For his next album, he reunites with his early boss Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra for bold “The Bean Stalks Again” and “Body and Soul”. Hawkins regains his hard bop chops on a strong album for the Riverside label with Hank Jones/p, Oscar Pettiford/b, Jo Jones/dr and JJ Johnson/tb for a ebullient “Laura” and nifty “Juicy Fruit”.
The years 1960-62 had Hawkins in a renaissance of sorts, reuniting with old friends and surround himself with youngsters for a series of uniformly strong albums. Four albums from 1960 have the tenor titan focusing on ballads like “Poor Butterfly” and “I’ll Get By”. Next is an obscure one with his “orchestra” of Thad Jones/tp, George Duvivier/b, Osie Johnson/dr and Eddie Costa/p-vib for well dug takes of “Bean In Orbit” and “Moodsville”, with a second album delivering a finger snapping “Cross Town” and “Stake Out”. Hawkins bops with the “youngsters” in pianist Red Garland’s trio for a relaxed jam on “Beans Blues” and breathy “It’s A Blue World”.
Hawkins meets up with fellow swinger Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis for a fantastic summit meeting that produces rich sparks on “Night Hawk” and velvet moods on “In A Mellow Tone”. Another summit has him with bop guitarist Kenny Burrell along with Ron Carter/b, Andrew Cyrille/dr and Ronnell Bright/p , all who go toe-to-to with the giant on “When Day Is Done” and “Moonglow”. In 1962, Hawkins focuses two albums on Broadway tunes with Eddie Locke/dr, Tommy Flanagan/p and Major Holley/b for laid back takes of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and “Here I’ll Stay”. The followup includes richly lyrical takes of “Make Someone Happy” and swinging sophistication on “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”.
The amazing thing about these two box sets is that they only scratch the surface of this man who is on the Mount Rushmore of tenor sax players. It’s not complete by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a representative great start. Start digging.