Coleman Hawkins

Recognized as the pioneering figure on tenor saxophone, Coleman Hawkins stands among the instrument’s all-time masters. An endlessly forward-looking improviser equipped with exhaustive command of chords and harmonies, he sustained a four-decade prime stretching from 1925 to 1965, during which he could match any rival.

Hawkins began piano study at five, took up cello at seven, and turned to tenor two years later. In an era when the saxophone was viewed as a novelty suited mainly to vaudeville or as a makeshift replacement for trombone in marching bands, he concentrated on forging a personal timbre. Already working professionally at twelve, he was performing in a Kansas City theater pit band in 1921 when Mamie Smith engaged him for her Jazz Hounds. He remained with the blues singer until June 1923, appearing on numerous records primarily as an accompanist and occasionally stepping forward on instrumentals. After departing Smith’s group he worked freelance in New York, spent a brief period with Wilbur Sweatman, and in August 1923 cut his initial sides with Fletcher Henderson. Once Henderson organized a standing orchestra in January 1924, Hawkins became its featured tenor.

Although lack of serious competition made him the leading tenor in jazz during 1924, his staccato phrasing and slap-tongue effects now sound distinctly of their time. Exposure to Louis Armstrong’s arrival in the Henderson band later that year prompted Hawkins to absorb the cornetist’s fluid legato approach, accelerating his development. By 1925 he had established himself as a major solo voice, and the following year his contribution to “Stampede” exerted wide influence. Hawk, who also played clarinet and bass saxophone in his early years, stayed with Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra until 1934, serving as the clear pacesetter on tenor; Bud Freeman remained one of the few players who avoided sounding like a close stylistic relation. Beyond his work with Henderson, Hawkins accompanied several blues singers, recorded with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, and, alongside Red McKenzie in 1929, delivered his first landmark ballad interpretation on “One Hour.”

By 1934 Hawkins had grown weary of the financially strained Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and relocated to Europe, remaining overseas for five years. He opened with Jack Hylton’s Orchestra in England before freelancing across the continent. His most celebrated session from this period occurred in 1937 alongside Benny Carter, Alix Combille, Andre Ekyan, Django Reinhardt, and Stephane Grappelli, yielding enduring versions of “Crazy Rhythm” and “Honeysuckle Rose.” As World War II approached, Hawkins returned to the United States in 1939. Despite the emergence of Lester Young’s radically different tenor conception, Hawkins reaffirmed his stature by prevailing in several intense jam sessions. His recording of “Body and Soul” that year became his signature release. In 1940 he assembled a big band that failed to gain traction, prompting him to disband it and settle into steady work on 52nd Street. Some of his most compelling dates were made during the first half of the 1940s, among them a remarkable quartet treatment of “The Man I Love.” Already a twenty-year veteran, Hawkins welcomed the younger bop-oriented players and found no need to alter his harmonically sophisticated style to collaborate with them. He featured Thelonious Monk in his 1944 quartet, directed the first official bop recording session that included Dizzy Gillespie and Don Byas, employed Oscar Pettiford, Miles Davis, and Max Roach early in their careers, toured California with a sextet fronted by Howard McGhee, and in 1946 used J.J. Johnson and Fats Navarro on record dates. Hawkins traveled with Jazz at the Philharmonic on multiple occasions between 1946 and 1950, revisited Europe several times, and in 1948 produced the first unaccompanied saxophone solo, “Picasso.”

By the early 1950s the Lester Young-inspired Four Brothers sound had eclipsed Hawkins’ approach among younger tenors, leading some observers to regard him as outdated. Nevertheless he continued performing and recording sporadically, and by the mid-1950s he enjoyed a revival. Emerging tenor Sonny Rollins cited Hawkins as his principal influence; Hawk began appearing regularly with Roy Eldridge in a dynamic quintet whose 1957 Newport Jazz Festival set proved memorable, confirming that he remained at full strength. Coleman Hawkins performed across an unusually broad spectrum of contexts, ranging from Red Allen’s vigorous Dixieland ensemble at the Metropole and leading a bop date with Idrees Sulieman and J.J. Johnson to guest appearances on recordings by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and, in the early 1960s, Max Roach and Eric Dolphy. During the first half of the 1960s he recorded with Duke Ellington, collaborated on an unconventional session with Sonny Rollins, and even completed a bossa nova album. By 1965 Hawkins was incorporating elements of John Coltrane’s exploratory manner into his own flights and seemed ageless.

Sadly, 1965 marked Coleman Hawkins’ final strong year. Whether from advancing age or deepening discouragement, he gradually lost interest in living. He largely ceased eating, drank more heavily, and rapidly declined. Apart from a surprisingly vital appearance with Jazz at the Philharmonic in early 1969, little of his output during his last three and a half years—a span in which he largely stopped recording—matches the standard expected of the great master. Dozens of exceptional Coleman Hawkins recordings remain available, however, and, as Eddie Jefferson observed in his vocalese treatment of “Body and Soul,” “he was the king of the saxophone.”