Coleman Hawkins was the one person who clearly defined just how a tenor sax man should play his instrument. Before “The Hawk” (as he became known), most tenor sax players used the heavily accented slap-tongue technique which limited the instrument’s tone and range of expression. Hawkins broadened the tone, adapted a greater legato line and started using the same fluency that trumpeters such as Louis Armstrong were using, thus creating his own legacy in jazz history. We hear Hawkins in fine ballad form from a “Jazz At The Philharmonic” performance at Carnegie Hall on September 16, 1950. Hank Jones is at the piano with Ray Brown on string bass and Buddy Rich on drums. The song is Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” from his 1933 musical “Roberta” which starred Bob Hope.
Posted on 02/06/2008
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