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 Genres: Jazz, 1950s
A master of the tenor sax, Coleman Hawkins was one of the most important jazz figures of the 20th Century. His unusual sense of improvisation allowed him to reach heights of expression that few other artists of his era reached. Hawkins' solo on his 1939 version of ''Body and Soul'' is considered a masterpiece and a true classic of American music. Nicknamed both ''Hawk'' and ''Bean,'' he was also one of the few musicians of the golden jazz age to make the transition to be-bop.
Hawkins studied piano and cello as a child. He took up the tenor saxophone at age nine and was performing for school dances by the time he was twelve. He grew up in Chicago and attended college in Topeka, Kansas, eventually playing for a theater orchestra in Kansas City in 1921. Mamie Smith heard him perform one evening in 1922 and offered him a spot in her Jazz Hounds. Hawkins traveled with the group to New York, where he made his first recordings, then across country to California and back to New York again.\
Hawkins left the Jazz Hounds in mid-1923 and worked freelance around the New York area until joining Fletcher Henderson in 1924. Hawkins stayed with Henderson for ten years, making many recordings and attracting worldwide attention. Hawkins moved to Europe in the 1930s, touring with English bandleader Jack Hylton. Hylton brought him to England to play with his orchestra and to record with many European and expatriate American jazz greats, including a now famous 1937 session with Benny Carter and Django Reinhardt. He formed a nine-piece outfit with which he recorded his famous version of ''Body and Soul.'' The song became a huge hit and Hawkins was voted Tenor Sax of the Year by Downbeat magazine.
Songs (click on song title for more information):
| Coleman Hawkins
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