I don’t expect every jazz fan to ONLY have music by guys like Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges and Sonny Stitt; still, a hefty collection of gents like these guys will at least give you a sound by which all other reed men must be compared. There’s a style and feel that is so natural here that you wonder either a) what was so special about that era or b) what’s MISSING in today’s generation?
Not only did Coleman Hawkins essentially invent the tenor sax for jazz, but he changed with the times, starting with pre-Swing and evolving with Swing, bebop and hard bop even going toe to toe with the avant garde once in awhile. Here, at the Village Gate, he’s at his most comfortable milieu, fronting a quartet with the erudite team of Tommy Flanagan/p, Major Holley/b and Eddie Locke for over half of the 2 disc set. His mastery of creativity on material like “All The Things You Are” and “Bean and the Boys” is on a comparable level to Beethoven’s Symphonies. It’s simply that majestic. And ballads?!? He floats with mystery and authority on “It’s The Talk of the Town” toying with the melody and flirting with hints of various permutations. Compatriots Roy Eldridge/tp and Johnny Hodges/as jump on stage for a few tunes, with Eldridge glowing on “Satin Doll” and Hodges playing a perfectly simple, fluffy and poignant blues on “The Rabbit in Jazz.” This collection of tunes begs for transcriptions!
Sonny Stitt was cursed for sounding and performing solos on alto identically like Charlie Parker, although the former claims to have created his style independently. For my money, his tone is light years better than Birds, and his work on tenor (featured here on a handful of tunes) ranks up with Dexter Gordon in terms of snap and power. These two sessions find him in a previously unreleased ’60 tribute to Ellington with Lou Levy/p, Paul Chambers/b and Stan Levey/dr, glowing on alto on “ Solitude” and sighing gloriously on “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.” Better still are his tenor trips on “C Jam Blues” and “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me.” This is swing-to-bop heaven. The ’62 session has him on a gorgeously sounding alto with Ronnie Matthews/p, Arthur Harper/b and Lex Humphries/dr, and he’s him swerving like a Nascar driver on “Calypso Groove” and “We” while shining like a full moon on “Little Girl Blue.” Timeless art!
Fresh Sound Records
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