Coleman Hawkins - Soul

The "daddy" of the tenor saxophone was a man whose playing contained a majesty and vitality until illness finally slowed him just prior to his death in 1969. This date, made in 1958 when Hawkins was in his fifties, finds him in the company of Kenny Burrell and Ray Bryant. This is not surprising because from the time of his ascendancy to the jazz hierarchy, he always sought out the best of the young musicians.

"Soul" was a much-abused term in jazz circles, but it never suffered in the hands of a giant such as Hawkins, whether he was blowing an earthy blues like the title number; the gospel-tinged "Sunday Mornin’"; or another one of his high-watermark interpretations of a standard–"Until the Real Thing Comes Along." And there is the rhapsodic, personal version of "Greensleeves." But then, Hawk was forever a master of balladry.