Customer Reviews

Body & Soul

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Referring to the 19 track RCA incarnation of this title:

This is 5 star material, as is most Coleman Hawkins. He is presented with half a dozen all-star orchestra and small groups recorded between 1939 and 1956. A swell way for the unintiated to get aquainted with the Mother of all (tenor) sax players. To hear the Hawk is to hear them all: you'll find shades of every tenor from Adderly to Rollins. The selections are carefully chosen for artistic merit and variety. The sound quality is quite good, even on the older sides.

The problem is, as an overview it is too narrow. Spend the extra money to get the 2CD "Retrospective 1929-1963" which contains 40 tracks, including all those on this CD. The Hawk is too huge a jazz legend to be captured on a dozen CDs, but at least the expanded release covers a sizeable chunk of his career. If you cheap it out and buy this one, you'll love it but in retrospect you'll wish you'd gotten the 2CD version.

Postscript 12/01/06: Although the 1929-1963 Retrospective is no longer available at Amazon, check out the $9 Quadromania 4CD set. Not quite as good audio quality, but a lot of bang for the buck. A lot of the Quadromania Fletcher Henderson trax feature Hawk, and he is prominent in Disk 4 of the Quadromania Pee Wee Russell collection.

I have this cd in permanent rotation and no matter what is going on in the house at the time it comes up,everyone stops to pay attention' Who's this " is invariably asked by those who don't yet know coleman.If you know his work it gives a big smile.

A favorite and classic Jazz CD -- all six songs are excellent, the sound quality is great as well, and, something like "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis, it's considered by some a "must have" Jazz performance.

If you have not heard Coleman Hawkins, he has an amazingly full and rounded saxophone sound that some would kill for. I come from the Deep South (London England) and I love this music.