When Hawkins released an instrumental recording of the standard "Body & Soul'' in 1939, it sent shockwaves through the jazz world because it consisted of something that had never been attempted before on record a three-minute extemporized saxophone solo that only briefly alluded to the song's notated theme. ![]() Together with another early saxophone innovator, soprano specialist Sidney Bechet, he established the instrument as a viable vehicle for extended improvisation. Indeed, his horn's seductively warm, breathy tone can convey intimacy and romance but also possesses a rugged lyricism and exudes a lively, hard-swinging athleticism qualities that became pre-requisites for the legion of saxophone players that followed in Hawkins' wake and were influenced by his innovations – everyone from Charlie Parker to Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.īut more than his sound, it was what Hawkins, a mustachioed musician who had a penchant for wearing a trilby, did with the saxophone that put him into the history books. There's no sound in jazz quite like Coleman Hawkins' distinctive tenor saxophone with its softly quivering vibrato.
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