Customer Reviews

Bean & The Boys

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Prestige issued its 'Historical Series' in the late 1960s, and this CD is a compilation of tracks from them. Strangely titled "Bean and the Boys", since that was the name of one of the LPs - one which featured the Hawk in bop, with Monk and Fats Navarro, the first four tracks on this CD are anything but bop; they come from the "Walter 'Foots' Thomas All-Stars" recording, and they are great, but its Swing. Hey, if you don't mind jarring segues from great Swing to a bop quartet (heck, Hawk did it) you should like this reissue. Me, I like my reissues a little more coherent. If you like the 'samples' "Out To Lunch" and "Look Out, Jack" - check for a reissue of the Walter "Foots" Thomas All-Stars, one of the best recordings ever.

This is a nice compilation of Hawkins in the 40's. That period was probably the most fertile for Hawkins as he swung hard and helped to usher in the bop era of jazz. After all, he was the first to record Monk. But no matter what style of jazz you like, Hawkins playing was excellent in all of these small band recordings. Confident and curious,he personified what jazz should be all about:exploring.

Coleman Hawkins is of course one of the best and most famous tenor players of all time.... The early tracks here are swing, but the rest fall into that hazey move from swing to bebop, as Hawkins was playing with the guys at Minton's early on. I got this not for Hawkins, however; I got it for the four tracks on which Thelonious Monk plays, his first studio recordings I think, from October 1944 ~ #s 5-8: On the Bean, Recollections, Flyin' Hawk, and Drifting On a Reed. Monk opens each song alone for a few bars; and on On the Bean and Flyin' Hawk he takes solos. Since Monk's first recordings under his own name didn't occur until 1947 (for Blue Note), it's wonderful to be able to hear him a full 3 years earlier, at just 27 years old. His style is definitely his here, but more 'bebop' in the sense that he plays more usual runs and more notes than he ever did later. For serious Monk fans or folks who are interested in the origins of bebop, this cd is a must!