Coleman Hawkins - JATP and more

 

It's a Friday night and we gotta lotta love for Hawkins round Chez Hook this evening. Had a itch needed scratchin' so I threw together these live tracks. Couple of oddball bonus cuts thrown in.

I started off with an old Verve lp that has 3 from a 1950 JATP set, next up another 3 from 49. Rifftide from the second set should be recognized as Hackensack by Monk, obviously from their time together. The first lp finishes off with Hawkins accompanying MJQ on 4 tracks.

Next I tacked on Hawkins set from a Pablo box entitled "The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World", a claim that doesn't actually hold up. Go figure! But it is fun.

Then I slapped on a couple of odd tracks from weird compilations before finishing with a "jam session" from the afore mentioned earth shaking concert. The jam is a Duke staple and I'm pretty sure my cloth ears say Hawkins in sandwiched between the Prez and Benny Carter solos.

1. Yesterdays
2. Hawk's Tune
3. Stuffy
4. Body and Soul
5. Rifftide
6. Sophisticated Lady
7. Bean Stalkin'
8. I Can't Get Started
9. Time On My Hands
10. The Walker
11. Moonglow
12. Sweet Georgia Brown

13. Lover Come Back To Me
14. Blues Changes
15. Skippy
16. Battle of the Saxes

17. C Jam Blues

Happy Birthday, Duke '14

 

Another tribute to Duke. Just some of my favorite stuff from lps laying about, compiled in a less than sober state the weekend before Duke's birthday.
 I tried for a varied mix, with some covers both by Duke and others, some early stuff as well as some later. I'm really happy with the way this turned out.


1. Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me - Duke/Ray Brown - This One's For Blanton
2. Backward Country Boy Blues - Money Jungle
3. Jungle Blues - 30's orchestra covering Jelly Roll
4. Beginning To See The Light - Woody Herman/Erroll Garner
5. Apes and Peacocks - Queen's Suite
6. Mood Indigo - Anatomy of a Murder soundtrack
7. Sophisticated Lady = Billy Mitchell w/ Bobby Hutcherson
8. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good - Johhny Hodges w/ Duke's Men
9. Echoes of Harlem - more classic old Duke, live from 1938
10. Satin Doll - Ella/Basie...'nuff said
11. I Can't Get Started - Duke Trio covering the classic tune.
12. Caravan - The Duke/Strayhorn All-Stars
13. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me - Billie Holiday
14. Solitude - Duke/Coleman Hawkins, but Ray Nance deserves a mention here!
15. Single Petal Of A Rose - Ben Webster
16. Sweet and Pungent - Blues In Orbit...Duke's cool.
17. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart - Terry Gibbs Quartet
18. Everything But You - Eugenie Baird w/ Duke's Men
19. Skunk Hollow Blues - Johnny Hodges Orchestra
20. C-Jam Blues - Shirley Scott



If you want a copy of this comp, contact me.

The Music Of Cole Porter Played By America's Greatest Jazzmen.

I'm gonna move some of the Cole Porter stuff from my other blog over just cause I think it is too cool to go unnoticed. Porter  just always seemed to translate well to jazz renditions.
 The first one is this Moodsville lp, which was just Prestige light, right? These recordings are smooth but swinging. There are some great performances included here that probably slipped through the cracks in the grand scheme of things. Hope everybody digs em like I do.

 I wonder what Shirley Scott thought about being billed on a record titled "America's Greatest Jazzmen?".

The Music Of Cole Porter

Played By America's Greatest Jazzmen


1. You'd be So Nice To Come Home To
2. Easy To Love
3. Love For Sale
4. Just One Of Those Things
5. I've Got You Under My Skin
6. All Of You
7. You Do Something To Me
8. Get Out Of Town
9. What Is This Thing Called Love

1. Frank Wess - flute; Dorothy Ashby - harp; Herman Wright - bass; Roy Haynes - drums
2. Gene Ammons - tenor; Richard Wyands - piano; Doug Watkins - bass; Ray Baretto - conga;
 JC Heard - drums
3. Billy Taylor - piano; Earl May - bass; Candido - conga; Percy Brice - drums
4. Steve Lacy - soprano sax; Gil Evans - piano; Louis Mucci, Jake Koven - trumpets; Jimmy
 Cleveland - trombone; Bart Varsalona - bass trombone; Willie Ruff - french horn; Dave    Kurtzer - bassoon; Lee Konitz - alto; Paul Chambers - bass; Nick Stabulas - drums
5. Stan Getz - tenor; Al Haig - piano; Tommy Potter - bass; Roy Haynes - drums
6. Modern Jazz Quartet - Milt Jackson - vibes; John Lewis - piano; Percy Heath - bass; Connie Kay - drums
7. Shirley Scott - piano; George Duvivier - bass; Artur Edgehill - drums
8. Coleman Hawkins - tenor; Tommy Flanagan - piano, Major Holley - bass; Eddie Locke -drums
9. Red Garland - piano; Paul Chambers - bass; Art Taylor - drums


Moodsville 34

Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk And The Hunter

 I'll be honest. I don't often enjoy strings with my jazz.Well instrumentalists anyway. Even with singers I am a tad wishy-washy. It's like that thick icing on birthday cakes, all show but so cloyingly sweet it can only be ingested in small amounts. Save the strings for soundtracks is my general philosophy.
 But then again, when a giant of the idiom and a personal favorite thinks it's a good idea, I have to give it a listen. A fair listen.
 As any follower of this blog will note, I am a big Hawkins fan and besides just laying over some strings, he brought along a rhythm section for this recording. Well, actually two, and one of them sports one of my favorite pianists as well, Hank Jones.
 Despite the fact that the strings do indeed get a bit saccharine at times I still kinda dig this lp.It's very reminscent of those Moodsville lps. Hawkins shines through especially on the self penned tunes. Unfortunately this version of Brahm's Lullaby makes me long for a version without strings. That would have been some ballad.

Groovy cool cover for bonus points.

The Hawk and the Hunter

1. Easy Walker*

2. Traumerei

3. All The Time *

4. Lazy Butterfly

5. Not Quite Right*

6. Pebbles*

7. I Knew Dana*

8. Lullaby

9. Hawk Talk

10. Misty Morning

11. Lonely Tenor

12. Whisper To Me*

Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax
Frank Hunter - conductor

tunes marked *
Dick Hyman - piano
Milt Hinton - bass
Osie Johnson - drums

all others
Hank Jones - piano
George Duvivier - bass
Jimmie Crawford - drums

no recording info included

Mira records LP-3003
 

After Hours - Grand Award Collection

 As much as I love jazz and the directions it is going, some nights I love looking back. This is one of those nights.

I have a few of these Grand Award lps. What a weird way of selling records. The encouragement of peeling off the cover and framing it seems a bit out there to me. None the less they produced some decent records with cool covers. Someone can come along and tell us if these sessions were originals or not.

Side 1 sports a fine cast with Hawkins standing out. I just dig his lyricism on these tunes. Side 2 doesn't swing as hard but it covers Hoagy Carmichael in no less of a deft manor.

Cover by Arthur Shilstone - whose fame rests mostly with outdoor/landscapes paintings - is pretty damn cool...and remains intact.

1. Caravan

2. Sweethearts On Parade

3. My Blue Heaven

4.Organ Grinder's swing

5. Honeysuckle Rose

6. Perdido

7. Stardust

8. I Get Along Without You

9. Rockin' Chair

10. Georgia On My Mind

11. New Orleans

12. Blue Orchids

1-6  Cozy Cole's All Stars
Cozy Cole - drums
Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax
Rex Stewart - trumpet
Tyrone Glenn - trombone
Claude Hopkins - piano
Billy Bauer - guitar
Arvell Shaw - bass

7-12 Marian McPartland's Quintet
Marian McPartland - piano
Jimmy McPartland - trumpet
Jimmy Rainey - guitar
Trigger Alpert - bass
Joe Morello - drums

Grand Award G.A. 33-334

Billie Holiday Vol 2 - Everest lp

I remember when I first bought this lp. It was a used record store sorta. The dude sold records on the landing of his parent's furniture shop. There were maybe 20 stacks of records around the floor, no crates or shelves.This was also the first time we had any access to used vinyl without driving the better part of 100 miles.
Years later this is a destination shop for me in the midwest. He has taken over the entire second floor and most of the first. Of course more space is dedicated to digital than vinyl, but the dude remains a collector at heart and there is always cool stuff to be unearthed at his shop.

 I love these Everest records. I have no doubt that these sessions were culled from many sources and given the artists represented I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't released any many other forms...but this is one of those jazz records I grew up with,  different from what was readily available and just cool as hell. This lp's heritage includes a period when it was the go-to choice when the rain was pattering on the roof of my house, I was safely ensconced in my mancave in the unfinished and rarely comfortable attic.Playing this brings back many fond memories. Enjoy.

Billie Holiday

Volume II

1. Fine And Mellow

2. What A Little Moonlight Can Do

3. Fooling Myself

4. Easy To Remember

5. You've Changed

6. Ghost Of A Chance

7. Willow Weep For Me

8. Stormy Weather

Musicians include Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Mingus, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Gerry Mulligan, Vic Dickerson, Milt Hinton, Doc Cheatham, Danny Barker, Mal Waldron, Osie Johnson, Tyree Glenn.

recorded 8/29/56, 12/8/57, and 6/18/58

FS 310

Coleman Hawkins - Crown LPs

Even if you have never heard these records before they are as comfortable as that jacket that Woodie Allen has worn in his last 15 movies. You can be hipper than Woodie. Swing to these groovy tunes laid down in the early 60's.

Here's a pair of Hawk lps on the Crown label. How the hell do they end up there?
I upgrade these records every chance I get but ya just don't see em around much. As a matter of fact the current copy of the earlier lp was purchased sans cover but was still in better shape than the one I had at the time.


A double dose of Bean...same band both sessions.

Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra

1. Bean In Orbit

2. After Midnight

3. Hassle

4. Moodsville

5. Stalking

The Hawk Swings

6. Cloudy

7. Almost Dawn

8. Stake Out

9. Cross Town

10. Shadows

Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax

Thad Jones - trumpet

George Duvivier - bass

Eddie Costa - piano, vibes

Osie Johnson - drums

Crown Records CST 206 and CLP 5207

Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk In Holland

Goddamn Hawkins. What can you say? I think The Ramblers had the time of their life. I think Hawkins had a blast. These recordings have the ability to take my breath away at times.
Hawk is in top form...so freaking cool...and he leads these guys completely down his path.
This is pre WWII. WTF? Somebody pulled off these recordings?
The lp this is taken from was released in 1968. What we have are at the time 30+ year old recordings on a 40+ year old record. And I have to worry about disturbing my neighbor because I like to hear this stuff swing...loud!

Coleman Hawkins with The Ramblers
The Hawk In Holland

1. Some Of These Days*
2. After You've Gone*
3. I Only have Eyes For You*
4. I Wish I Were Twins*
5. Chicago~
6. Meditation~
7. What Harlem Is To Me~
8. Natcha's Dream~
9. I Wanna Go Back To Harlem+
10. Consolation+
11. A Strange Pact+
12. Original Dixie Land One-Step+
13. Smiles+
14. Something Is Gonna Give Me Away#

recorded in Holland on (*) 2/4/35. (~) 8/28/35. (+) 4/26/37, and (#) 4/28/37

GNP-9003

The Definitive Jazz Scene Vol 1 - Impulse Comp

It seems like I have owned this record forever, pulling it out every couple of years to be floored once again at all the great music it has that I just never run into elsewhere. Cah-rist! Ellington and Hawkins! Coltrane! Webster! Mingus! Tyner! and more Hawkins!
Of the series of three, and none of them are weak, this is probably my favorite. The two Bean tracks are simply outstanding. And this is the part where I mess with you...this issue has far more detailed notes about the recordings sessions including anecdotes, which the following lps tended to lack. Of course I can't share them with you due to the digital block in my brain.

But I will share as much info as my poor tired fingers will allow....

The Hawkins/Ellington tune was recorded after the session had ended and Hawk talked a few guys into playing one of his favorite Ellington themes, Basie looks back at his roots with a new incarnation of his Kansas City Six. Mingus makes my soul soar with this version of Freedom, while I dig the soprano version of Trane's selection. Hawkins sneaks in again with Shelley Manne on an outtake from their lp. Ben Webster showcases Ellington's "Single Petal Of A Rose". Webster shows up again on Clark Terry's bonus track.
You're gonna have to trust me here...there ain't a bad track on this compilation.
Without doing a whole lot of homework, I will assume that most of these tracks have appeared across the board on the respective artist's releases, but at the time this vinyl was the shit!!

The Definitive Jazz Scene
Vol. 1

1. Solitude
2. Trey of Hearts
3. Single Petal of a Rose
4. Tippie
5. Lisa and Pam
6. Big Nick
7. Avalon
8. Freedom
9. Hammer-Head Waltz
10. Flapstick Blues

1. Duke Ellington - piano, Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax, Ray Nance - violin, Sam Woodyard - drums, Aaron Bell - bass 8/18/62
2. Count Basie - piano, Thad Jones - trumpet, Frank Wess, Eric Dixon - flutes, Freddie Green - guitar, Ed Jones - bass, Sonny Payne - drums 3/22/62
3. Ben Webster - tenor sax, Hank Jones - piano, Richard Davis - bass, Osie Johnson - drums 3/11/64
4. Terry Gibbs - vibes, Kenny Burrell - guitar, Sam Jones - bass, Louis Hayes - drums 1/16/64
5. Shirley Scott - organ, Earl may - bass, Jimmie Cobb - drums 8/22/63
6. John Coltrane - soprano sax, McCoy Tyner - piano, Jimmy Garrison - bass, Elvin Jones - drums 8/11/62
7. Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax, Shelley Manne - drums, Hank Jones - piano, George Duvivier - bass 2/5/62
8. Charles Mingus - bass, narration, Eddie Preston, Richard Williams - trumpets, Britt Woodman - trombone, Don Butterfield - tuba, Jerome Richardson, Dick Hafer, Booker Ervin, Eric Dolphy - saxophones, Jaki Byard - piano, Walter Perkins - drums 10/20/63
9. Clark Terry - trumpet, Phil Woods - alto sax, Ben Webster - tenor sax, Roger Kellaway - piano, Milt Hinton - bass, Walter Perkins - drums 3/13/64
10. McCoy Tyner - piano, Jimmy Garrison - bass, Albert Heath - drums 6/4/63

Impulse A-99

Coleman Hawkins - Compilation Vol.2

Christmas Eve. Hope y'all are enjoying yourselves.

Here's some Hawk that I burned back around his birthday that never got posted. Odds and ends, so to speak.

I'm listening to these tracks as I type. And I am filled with Christmas spirit.

These tracks are culled from a couple of lps.

Now go to bed so Santa can leave gifts.

Coleman Hawkins
Compilation 2

1. Caravan
2. Sweethearts On Parade
3. My Blue Heaven
4. Organ Grinder's Swing
5. Honeysuckle Rose
6. Perdido
7. When Day Is Done
8. The Drag
9. Ole Man River
10. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
11. Battle Of The Tenor Saxes
12. Picasso
13. Lover Come Back To Me
14. Blue Changes
15. Body and Soul
16. Rifftide
17. Sophisticated Lady
18. Get Out OF Town

If you really care - the personnel will be listed in the next couple of days.


Some more Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins - accent on tenor sax

This is the last of the posts for Hawks birthday. While not the rarest, it is still not seen often, and remains one of my favorites as well.
This lp is a perfect example of how Hawk was straddling two camps. His playing is as lightning fast and full of ideas as any of the current (at the time) boppers and yet he could just as easily drop right back into swing mode, sometimes with in the same song as shown in the outstanding opening track.
Given the crew it sticks closer to the swing feel than anything but he still manages to slip in a bit of of samba, another nod to the then current vogue.


This is a solid lp that covers a lot of territory. Once again i apologize for the small imperfections through out. This is taken from the originally released lp and not a reissue.

Coleman Hawkins
accent on tenor sax

1. I'll Never Be The Same
2. Blue Room
3. When Your Lover has Gone
4. Running Wild
5. The Breeze and I
6. What's New
7. I'll String Along With You
8. My Own Blues

Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax
Ernie Royal - trumpet
Eddie Bert - trombone
Earl Night - piano, organ
Wendell Marshall - bass
Osie Johnson - drums
Sidney Gross - guitar


Urania Records UJLP-1201

Coleman Hawkins Quartet - The Jazz Version of No Strings

Here's another in honor of Bean's birthday this weekend. I really don't see this one about much, so here ya go. as usual, ripped from the vinyl.

This quartet is the same one that recorded Today and Now for Impulse and that record remains one of my favorites to this day. There is not nearly as much stretching out on this lp, not surprisingly as it was released under the Moodsville imprint.

Apparently No Strings - the play - has the distinction of being the first for which Richard Rodgers wrote both music and lyrics. Guess the lyric part is kinda pointless here.

If the liner notes are to be believed this lp was recorded within weeks of the show opening on Broadway. Rodgers moved the orchestra from the pit and behind the stage with soloists wandering on stage to accentuate certain moods. Sounds interesting. I wonder if it worked. The show itself opened 3/15/62.

The Coleman Hawkins Quartet
The Jazz Version of No Strings

1. Look No Further
2. La La La
3. Nobody Told Me
4. Maine
5. Loads Of Love
6. The Sweetest Sounds
7. Be My Host
8. The Man Who Has Everything
9. No Strings

Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax
Tommy Flanagan - piano
Major Holley - bass
Eddie Locke - drums

recorded 3/30, 4/4/62

Moodsville 25

Battle of the Tenor Saxes - IAJRC 15

A big damn thanks to Luis for scanning this cover for me.


I used to be a member of this organization, but economics and differences in taste finally caused me to drop out. I still hold them in the highest regard.

This is obviously a labor of love. Self published and full of rare tracks, I truly hope I am not hurting any one's feelings by sharing this, but it no longer appears available on their website in any form.
This lp is split into two camps, "The Big Sound" and "The Cool School". Can't say I really dig one side over the other as this is some outstanding shit.

The liner notes are extensive, comprehensive and far too detailed to provide here. but the one thing I want to reiterate from them - "Melvin Moore's vocal on Deep Purple is regrettable but the side is included here for its rarity as well as the brief contribution of Marsh."

(Aw shit - an hour of typing gone in a keystroke - what you get here is a track
and artist list, full personnel detail available in a couple of days.

Battle Of The Tenor Saxes IAJRC 15
Side One - "The Big Sound"

1. Skippy - Coleman Hawkins
2. Surf Board - Ben Webster
3. Dumb Woman Blues - Gene Ammons
4. Cup-Mute Clayton - Ike Quebec
5. Topsy - Ike Quebec
6. The Happening - Paul Gonsalves
7. Sahara Heat - Illinois Jaquet
8. Don't Push Daddy - Illinois Jaquet

Side Two - "The Cool School"

9. Movin' With Lester - Lester Young
10. Lester Smooths It Out - Lester Young
11. On The Town - Dexter Gordon
12. The Way You Look Tonight - Allen Eager
13. I'm Shooting High - Warne Marsh
14. Deep Purple - Warne Marsh
15. Oh Well - James Moody
16. The Great Lie - Wardell Gray

IAJRC 15

You won't gleam a lot of info off this back cover scan but here it is if you want to try. Again , thanks Luis.

Coleman Hawkins in the 40's - Vol.1

With Hawk's birthday coming up this weekend, I thought I might post and handful of his lps I have laying about. Hawk may have been the first of the jazz artists outside of the "bop" pantheon that I truly came to appreciate. Not the first I heard, or enjoyed, that was probably Artie Shaw, but the first that I really learned to dig into and find out what he was all about. I still list Bean among my favorites.

The first batch of songs was released as one of the lps on this Prestige two-fer. They are a bunch of 78's from the 40's. The first four sides signal the coming of the "new music" and include what has come to be accepted as the first modern showings of bop, with venerable sideman, Thelonious Monk. Track 4, Drifting On A Reed, still invariably makes its way onto compilations i make for people who "just don't get jazz" and decide to sample it.
i don't know where else these songs have been reissued and it is with great pleasure that I keep them alive here.



This second batch is from a Trip records reissue titled "Coleman Hawkins with The Trumpet Kings - 1945". Do not be fooled into thinking this is Bean with some sort of super group but rather another collection of various sides that just so happen to showcase trumpters as well as Hawk. More firmly rooted in the swing era, as evidenced by the songs covered, these tracks are still full of crackling energy and it is fun to hear Hawk with these"old timers". Even though he came up among them, it was his forward facing nature that keeps me from thinking he was actually "one of them." The sides with Roy Eldridge are particularly good.



Once again as this is basically a compilation, there is no way I am going to list all the personnel. And on a funnier note, I can't even seem to locate my trip lp, even though I ripped it only a couple of weeks ago. All information should be easily located through the glory of the internet. If necessary, contact me and I will see about supplying the info if necessary.

While listed as two separate lps - both fit handily on one disc. As usual taken from my vinyl rips.

Coleman Hawkins - The 40's 78s
1. On The Bean
2. Recollection
3. Flyin' Hawk
4. Driftin' On A Reed
5. I Mean You
6. Bean and the Boys
7. Cocktails For Two
8. You Go To My Head
9. Sih-Sah
10. Bay-U-Bah
11. Sophisticated lady
12. Bean's Talking Again

Milestone M-47015-1

Coleman Hawkins and the Trumpet Kings
1. I Only Have Eyes For You
2. 's Wonderful
3. I'm In The Mood For Love
4. Bean At The Met
5. Thru For The Night
6. I'm Yours
7. Under a Blanket of Blue
8. Beyond The Blue Horizon
9. In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town
10. My Man
11. El Salon de Gutbucket
12. Embraceable You

Trip 5515

Courtesy of our friend Otis - the personnel for the Trumpet Kings lp is now listed in the comments section.

Coleman Hawkins - hawk in germany

Although Hawk gets top billing on this lp, he only appears on half of the program. And so it is when you have successfully made the transition from big band to bop.

This session features four ex-pats, all incredible in their own right. And sadly for 3 of them, recording would end shortly.

Hawk and Powell were far from their peak, but somehow this recording of old friends seems to generate a spark. Pettiford would have passed within 6 mos., Powell within 3 years, which is also when Hawkins quit recording and just took to the bottle. He hung on for another 3 years. Only Klook managed to survive the ravages of fame, quietly passing at 81.

But so much for back story, the lp is classic Black Lion production. Lots of standards, with the Powell Trio taking the mostly upbeat tracks with Bean joining for the second half, mostly ballads.

I often wonder if this has not been released as the Essen Concert.

Anyway for your enjoyment, another vinyl rip...

Coleman Hawkins/Bud Powell - hawk in germany
1. Shaw Nuff
2. Blues In The Closet
3. Willow Weep For Me
4. John's Abbey
5. Salt Peanuts
6. All The Things You Are
7. Yesterdays
8. Stuffy
9. Just You, Just Me

Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax
Bud Powell - piano
Oscar Pettiford - bass
Kenny Clarke - drums

recorded April 2, 1960
stereo

BL - 159