I’ve been listening to jazz for most of my life, and the best criteria for judging an artist is what my dearly departed dad told me way back when. He termed it the “3 Day Rule.” Simply put, can you REALLY listen to three straight days of this artist and still enjoy him, or do you end up going crazy. Obvious artists that the “3 Day Rule” has dropped from my catalogue are Stan Kenton and late John Coltrane. Tenor sax players that made the elite group are Ben Webster, Lester Young, Stan Getz, MAYBE Dexter Gordon, and, of course the Daddy of them all, Coleman Hawkins.
This single disc is from a single 1960 session that was originally released as two separate LPs, namely Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra and The 
Hawks Swings. The team of Hawkins with Thad Jones/tp, Eddie Costa/p-vib, George Duvivier/b and Osie Johnson/dr hum together like a Buick V8 on cookers like “Moodsvile” or bluesy pieces such as “After Midnight” and “Cloudy.” Besides supplying supple piano work, Costa brings his good vibes in on “Shadows” (with Nat Pierce on the piano), and Jones is wondrously pungent as he mutes his horn on “Bean In Orbit” and in full throttle on “Cross Town.” All throughout, Hawkins sounds like a true master, creating solos the way Michelangelo deals with marble in creating Moses in Chains. Every note, like every stroke, is a work of art. Bring this one to your desert island!
Fresh Sound Records
www.freshsoundrecords.com