Coleman Hawkins - and His Confreres

Release date 2010

Featuring: Roy Eldridge, Buck Clayton (tp), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Hank Jones (p), George Duvivier, Ray Brown (b), Mickey Sheen (d)

To define the particular sounds you will find here, some people coined the term mainstream—yet some simply call it jazz. The performers on these sessions need only imply to convey what they mean. Everyone involved seems to have known it.

Coleman Hawkins blows with eloquence, guts, self-confidence, and stomping emotionalism. Roy Eldridge is, as usual, excitable and bubbling over with the kind of exuberance that only trumpeters can manage as they manipulate lip and valve. Buck Clayton’s imagination gives a distinct shape to each one of his solos; he executes them with taste and sense of relevance. Hank Jones is flexible and fluent, ever the complete musician, and a nearly perfect complement here to the lyricism and rhythmic strength of Hawk and the two trumpeters.

The rhythm section blends together in fine rapport. This is a healthy example of uncluttered, uncomplexed, and unneurotic jazz blowing by as worthy a company of musicians as could be desired.