Release Date: 08 January 2002
Label: Naxos - Jazz Legends / Naxos Jazz Legends
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943262627
Genres: Jazz
Description
COLEMAN HAWKINS Vol.2‘Hawk in the 30s’In his promotion and elevation of the tenor saxophone to solo status, ‘Hawk’ is now regarded as a colossal pioneering force of modern jazz. The archetypal tenor ‘vocalist’ of jazz (his career coincides with the heyday of jazz as graphed on records) and the inspirer of Lester Young and Stan Getz, not to mention more recent exponents, his powerful, confident and innovative style was probably the greatest single influence in the emergence of the sax as a serious jazz instrument. ‘Hawk’ was born Coleman Randolph Hawkins in St. Joseph, Missouri, on 21st November, 1904, the only son of William and Cordelia Coleman Hawkins. Encouraged by his mother, an amateur church organist, he played classical piano at five and ’cello at seven before being presented with his first sax at nine. Educated locally and in Kansas, Missouri, he improvised initially in school bands on jazz he had heard on recordings (his single greatest formative influence was the smooth, melodic playing of Louis Armstrong) and at sixteen, still a student of harmony and composition at the all-black Washburn College, Topeka, gained his first professional experience in and around Kansas City. In 1921, while playing professionally in a theatre orchestra in Twelfth Street, he was invited by the visiting Mamie Smith to tour with her Jazz Hounds. In March 1922 they appeared at the Garden of Joy in New York and shortly afterwards Hawk made his first recordings as a sideman with the band (acoustics for the OKeh label), by which time he had switched permanently from C-melody sax to tenor. At this period he also played in backing groups with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, prior to joining Fletcher Henderson, in 1923.At first based at the Club Alabam on New York’s West 44th Street, by 1924 Henderson was soon fronting prestigious society dance outfits resident (mainly) at plush establishments like the Roseland Ballroom and the Savoy. The mascot of a chic clientele, he specialised in New Orleans hot dance improvisations à la Louis Armstrong, a style to whose influence Hawk was highly susceptible, especially after Louis himself joined the band’s ranks in 1924. Remaining with Henderson until early 1934, Hawk soon had star status conferred on him and steadily raised his chosen instrument (previously regarded merely as a novelty for background effects) into a virtuoso vehicle. With the Henderson band the embellished improvisations of "Coleman Hawkins — the world’s greatest tenor saxophonist" were displayed to great acclaim both live and in the fruit of circa 90 recording sessions, mainly for Columbia, from which come two late examples : Noble Sissle’s Yeah Man! and Queer Notions, an interesting Hawkinsian exploration of the ‘whole-tone scale’.In March 1933, with trumpeter Henry ‘Red’ Allen (1908-1967) as co-director and other sidemen from the Henderson outfit, Hawk formed an
Tracklisting
Teagarden:Goodman:Nicholas
Jelly Roll Morton
James, Harry
Hawkins, Coleman
Guthrie, Woody
Grappelli
Grappell
George Shearing
