Bebop Years [Box set, Import]

Coleman Hawkins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 28, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Proper Box UK
• ASIN: B000051TPD
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,353 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Body And Soul

2. Dinah

3. When Day Is Done

4. Smack

5. I Surrender Dear

6. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

7. Dedication

8. Rocky Comfort

9. One O'Clock Jump

10. 9-20 Special

11. Feedin' The Bean

12. Esquire Bounce

13. My Ideal

14. Voodte

15. How Deep Is The Ocean

16. Hawkins' Barrel House

17. Stumpy

18. Lover Come Back To Me

19. Blues Changes

20. Crazy Rhythm

See all 99 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Covering a period from 1939-1949, The Bebop Years profiles Hawkins during the days of combo swing and bebop. That the tenor great sounds at home in both settings here is testament to his great flexibility and intellect as a player. Proper pays its respects with four discs and a lavish booklet sporting a detailed discography, extensive notes, and rare photos. The quality rarely dips as Hawkins is heard making history on his 1939 take of "Body and Soul," cutting a wealth of 1944 gems for Keynote, rubbing shoulders with young beboppers like Dizzy Gillespie and Monk, and waxing nostalgic with the Metronome All-Stars. An amazing document befitting a master in his prime. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An astounding value! May 14, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

This is an excellent compilation of Hawkins' work between 1939 and 1949. Most of the selections date from 1943 to 1947 and were recorded for several record labels, including Victor, Bluebird, Okeh, Brunswick, V-Disc, Commodore, Signature, Keynote, Apollo, Savoy, Clef, Regis, Capitol, Aladdin, Joe Davis, and Selmer. Sidemen include Roy Eldridge, Benny Carter, Cootie Williams, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Oscar Pettiford, Teddy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, Budd Johnson, Ben Webster, Earl Hines, Don Byas, John Kirby, Jonah Jones, Buck Clayton, Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Harry Carney and Miles Davis. As you would expect with such a wide variety of source material, the sound quality varies a bit. However, it ranges from good to excellent and in most cases is on par (or identical:)) with the best previous CD issues of the same music. The set comes with a 56 page booklet that includes a lengthy essay with analysis of each session, several photographs, and a very thorough discography (you can read the complete essay and discography at Proper's website). The essay is good, though it could have used some editing. Also, the photos look like they were duplicated from printed sources. The most important thing, however, is that the music is consistently excellent. These discs show Hawkins at his absolute best, whether in a small group, big band, or solo. For the price the set is an astounding value!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody .... June 9, 2010

By Giordano Bruno

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

... epitomizes the history of jazz better than Coleman Hawkins, from raggedy blues/vaudeville to bebop and a little beyond. Born in 1904, Hawkins jumped school in Kansas City in 1922 to join Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds on tour to Chicago. Through the late 20s and early 30s, Hawkins was the boss tenor sax in the very popular Fletcher Henderson swing band. Then he spent some five years in Europe, building an enormous popularity for himself there as well as a fervent audience for jazz that has endured to our own times. In 1939, he returned more or less permanently to the USA, and that's where this four-CD survey of his recordings during "The Bebop Years" begins.

Coleman had been a highly reputed journeyman jazzman for two decades when the first track in this box set, Body and Soul, was recorded by RCA in October, 1939. The final track on the fourth disk, Bah-U-Bah, was recorded in Paris, rehearsing for a European tour, in December, 1949. So "The Bebop Years" is not only a compendium of the Hawk's finest sessions -- 88 of them -- over a ten-year period, but also a survey of the evolution of jazz from a "high-toned low-class popular" music to the artistic heights that Hawkins shared with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Monk, Gillespie, Gordon, and other progressive beboppers. The sax was, of course, the master instrument of the era, and it was Hawkins who first proved what the sax could offer. Hawkins had incredible chops, a rich rolling tone especially in his lower register on ballads, and it was on ballads that he sounded most harmonically adventuresome and original. But Hawk never totally abandoned his swing-era roots. He could play 'hot' or 'sweet' but 'cool' was not in him, and the 50's became a decade of neglect and disappointment for him. Unlike some younger beboppers, nevertheless, Hawkins was robust even to enjoy a revival in the late 50s and early 60s. But the 'avant-garde' of free jazz held no appeal for him. To put it bluntly, he gave up and drank himself to death at age 66 in 1969. The superb film "Round Midnight", starring Dexter Gordon and directed by Bernard Tavernier, depicts the last years of a musician who might well have been Coleman Hawkins.

The remastering of the assorted sessions, some in studios and some live, in this Properbox is extraordinarily clear and realistic. This is a fantastic bargain, a must-have for jazz lovers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars one major omission July 24, 2008

By JG

Format:Audio CD

I know I am being picky but there is one MAJOR omission. The session with
trumpeter Fats Navarro that produced the great Half Step Down Please.
Otherwise this is a wonderful collection of a more modern sounding Hawkins. At least they have the Dizzy stuff. Rember Hawkins was on the first bebop recordings and I also believe Monks first session.