If you’ve ever listened to a song that had a tenor sax solo in it, just remember that you probably wouldn’t be hearing it unless the guy featured on this wonderful 8 disc limited edition boxed set by Mosaic Records was born. Coleman Hawkins, while not necessarily inventing the playing of the tenor sax, was definitely the one who turned it into an actually musical instrument. That itself would put him on the musical map, but then, as so many of these recordings show, he then went on to define how the horn was to sound in the context of big band, swing, ballads and bebop, essentially setting the standard for all four genres, in fact, up to this very day.
The 8 cd boxed set (with exceptionally interesting notes by Grammy winner Loren Schoenberg, as well as hyper cool and rare photos)starts with the pre-swing era, having Hawkins slap tongue his reed through a 1922 blues lead by singer Mamie Smith, taking you through the highly important and influential Fletcher Henderson Orchestra of the 20s and 30s, a few side roads with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, Benny Goodman’s, Benny Carter’s, Count Basie’s and Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra, as well as his own band, sometimes co-lead with “Red’ Allen, and other times with him out in front. A few all star groups have him with some heavy hitters like Johnny Hodges and Nat King Cole, which leads through to the classic small group reading of “Body and Soul,” and finally letting you off at 52nd Street, where Hawkins lays down the arguably first bebop recordings with “Stumpy” and “Vootde,” culminating in a transcendent take of “How Deep Is The Ocean.” By the time the collection ends with Hawkins playing along with Frank Sinatra on a 1946 take of “Sweet Lorraine,” you’ve encountered a time period when not only music, but the entire American culture, has gone through an entire seismic shift, and Hawkins’ tenor supplied its soundtrack.
The first 3-4 discs are dominated by Hawkins’ tenure with Fletcher (and Horace) Henderson’s Orchestra; these sessions have some of the most important and standard-setting tenor playing that has ever been recorded. His rough and gruff solos on “King Porter Stomp” and “Sugar Foot Stomp” were definitive for their time, while his ballad work on “One Hour” is considered a major paradigm shift in sax playing. Henderson’s band, which pioneered the call and responses going back and forth from the reed and brass sections, swung like crazy, as they so amply demonstrate on the wild and loose “Yeah, Man” and “New King Porter Stomp,” which was essentially what inspired Benny Goodman’s own famous orchestra and brought in The Swing Era. The advanced harmonies of “Queer Notions” were light years ahead of time, with Hawkins demonstrating that he was performing on a different plane than contemporaries from other big bands. He’s featured on solos with other bands that have names that sound like local baseball teams of the Negro Leagues: The Mound City Blue Blowers, The Dixie Stompers and The Chocolate Dandies all feature some forward thinking solos by The Bean, particularly on the 1929 “One Hour,” considered the first ballad solo by a tenor saxist.
By the time Hawkins’ solo on 1939’s “Body and Soul” hit the airwaves, Hawkins was ruling the musical world. All sax soloing sounded archaic after this one came out. Ballads NEVER sounded better, and this piece is a must transcription for every horn player. Not too far behind are the tasty little swing ditties like “Bouncing With Bean” which has Hawkins roaring like a lion. While the guest sessions with Basie, Carter and Goodman (on “9:20 Special,” “Sleep” and “Georgia Jubilee” respectively) are interesting, and the swing sessions with Lionel Hampton on “Dinah” and “When Lights Are Low” are as fun as all get out, for my money, the transformation of swing to bop with Hawkins at the helm is one of the highlights of not only this release, but of everything jazz has ever put out. His 1943 sessions with Ellis Larkins-Eddie Heywood/p, Oscar Pettiford/b, Max Roach-Shelly Manne/dr (and other guests) are simply what dreams are made of. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is as perfect a mix of energy, intellect, chops and art as these readings of “Lover, Come Back To Me,” “Voodte” “How Deep Is The Ocean,” “Stumpy,” “Crazy Rhythm” or “The Man I Love.” Music simply doesn’t get better than this. And did it?
And if you want some real experimentation, after the very cool and hip boppers like 1944’s“Esquire Jump,” Hawkins then bares all and goes completely solo on “Hawk’s Variations” in a pre-Ornette Coleman 1945 recording. This collection is not only an overview of Hawkins’ career, but a retrospective of jazz, and American music itself. Therefore, if you’ve only listened to modern jazz that is either in stereo or digitalized, the sound on some of these early 20th century recordings might come off as an auditory shock. About a quarter of these recordings were recorded before there was even a term called “swing,” as the sound of jazz at the time, while primitive to our ears with its fox trots, “stomps” and very straight 4/4 rhythms, may get some adjusting to. For example, except for Red Allen, who does his best to draw from Louis Armstrong, every other singer sounds as stiff as a board. If uninitiated to The Jazz Age style of things, you might want to start with the last couple of discs and work yourself backwards to get your sea legs adjusted. Having said all of that, keep in mind that this music was probably the last time that America’s most popular music was also its best.
As with just about every Mosaic release, there are some previously released gems and obscurata. Most notable is a session with Fletcher Henderson’s 1933 orchestra that has a gorgeous alternate take of “It’s The Talk of The Town,” and his 1944 sextet (with Charlie Shavers and Edmond Hall) on a piece called “Shivers.” I’m not sure what you’re looking for in a sax player, but if your only previous exposure has been John Coltrane, and your idea of old school jazz is A Love Supreme, be prepared to have your world rocked. This is the Rosetta Stone of jazz. As always, it’s a limited edition, so don’t miss out.
Mosaic Records
www.mosaicrecords.com