Track Listing

1. The Stampede (with Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra)
2. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight (with The Mound City Blue Blowers)
3. Queer Notions (with Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra)
4. It's The Talk Of The Town (with Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra)
5. Honeysuckle Rose
6. Body and Soul
7. The Man I Love
8. Bean At The Met
9. Woody 'n' You
10. I Mean You
11. Bean And The Boys
12. Stuffy
13. Picasso
14. La Rosita
15. Ruby, My Dear
16. Just Friends
17. Crazy Rhythm
18. Driva Man
19. Self Portrait Of The Bean

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41872 in Music
• Brand: Coleman
• Released on: 2000-11-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
Coleman Hawkins had one of the longest creative careers in jazz, and this compilation, spanning every decade in which he recorded (and accompanying Ken Burns's 10-part documentary Jazz), emphasizes that his imagination was as enduring as his ruggedly bristling tenor saxophone sound. In the 1920s he was virtually the creator of jazz saxophone playing, freeing it from the mushy sound it had in dance bands. By the time "Bean" recorded his tune "Queer Notions" with Fletcher Henderson in 1933, he was already playing with elements of atonality in his music. 1939's "Body and Soul" is a breakthrough in the development of the jazz solo, a masterpiece of sustained harmonic invention.

While many of his generation resisted the bebop revolution of the 1940s, Hawkins was a notable sponsor, among the first to hire its exponents and to record tunes like Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n' You" and Thelonious Monk's "I Mean You." In the later years of his career, he played across a broad spectrum of jazz. There's a sublime meeting here with fellow swing tenor giant Ben Webster over a Latin beat on "La Rosita." Max Roach's "Driva Man" was one of the first works of explicit social protest in jazz. And Duke Ellington wrote the concluding "Self Portrait of the Bean" for Hawkins for a 1962 session in which they belatedly joined forces. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

A good overview from a huge discography
Coleman Hawkins released so much music over his lifetime in so many styles of jazz that this is a good sampler. As far as the other reviewers complaining about the crackling, I think it's about time a company reissue 78 RPM-era recordings without removing the crackle and pops. Early jazz and blues was recorded in the kitchens of after-hours joints while breakfast was being cooked... that's the bacon sizzling in the background you hear. How else could Jimmy Rushing and Big Joe Turner maintain the girth that made them famous?
Seriously, the surface noise is a bit distracting, but a lot of those remasters where it is removed takes away subtle shades and nuances in the music. Remember too, that these sides were recorded prior to the use of magnetic tape. I'm sure that for a series like Ken Burns Jazz, which stood to make more money than any other jazz reissue campaign, the labels did not hesitate to use their best, most pristine masters available. As far as the packaging, well, yes, that could have been more attractive.

A Good Overview of The Hawk
This is a nice, tasteful collection of Hawkins's music. I especially appreciated the inclusion of "Ruby My Dear" from the Thelonious Monk album "Monk's Music", which gives one the chance to hear Hawk's emotive tenor in an atypical context.

The packaging is terrible though, as it is on all of the Ken Burns series. Jazz albums are supposed to have attractive cover art.

The "Bean" Is In The House
I admit to a very spotty interest in jazz over my life time and while I have always loved those 1940's swing bands, like that of Benny Goodman, it was only with the celebration of the centennial of Duke Ellington's birth in 1999 that I got a little more serious about this genre. Ken Burns' "Jazz" series for PBS gave me another boost. Still and all there are huge gaps in my knowledge and appreciation of the classic jazz tradition. This is a little odd in that there is a certain convergence between jazz and my favorite musical genre, the blues. The artist under review here exemplifies both those traditions, the "max daddy" tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins, who was the consummate professional and innovator on that instrument back in the days. All others, including the great Lester Young and Ben Webster, fall in behind this master. That much I do know.

A part of the Burns "Jazz" educational process a series of individual CDs featuring the classic works of the various artists featured in the documentaries were produced. Here the best of Hawkins, starting back in the 1920's, is given a full workout. The "best" here -no question- "Body And Soul", "I Mean You" and the later jumped up "Driva Man" (with the legendary Max Roach on drums). Wow.