Customer Reviews

Jazz Icons: Coleman Hawkins Live in '62 & '64

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The father of Jazz saxophone, COLEMAN HAWKINS, gets deluxe due with a whopping 2 hours 20 minutes of bop chops.

This disc unleashes two great shows with different bands from tours of Europe. His drummer on the first concert, Kansas Fields, puts sway into martial precision while Coleman puts the mellow in melodic. Hawkins is in fine form here, showing us why he earned his crown as the master of jazz improvisation. Parisian pianist Georges Arvanitas is an excellent foil with his modern and sometimes risky chordings thrown off with easy aplomb.

The second show with a new line-up finds Hawkins pacing himself in a slow burn. With his almost sad dignity trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison nearly steals the show from his friend; he especially stands out on his unexpected ballad choice, "The Girl From Ipanema". Hawkins is back in the groove before long and abbetted greatly by bassist Jimmy Woode and the great drummer "Papa" Jo Jones. This man put saxophone on the map and on this great collection he shows us how.

I hesitated getting this one because the dates and locations matched another Coleman Hawkins DVD that I reviewed. Of course, having other shoppers review products really helps. The reviewer that commented about Harry Sweets Edidson stealing the show on Girl From Ipamema, that told me these weren't the same concerts. This one was really great. Sure they are in B&W, but so what, the quality is high for 1962 & 1964, these great pioneers performance is top notch, I count myself lucky to witness these legends in action. Thank you Jazz Icons, again.

I have 18 of the Jazz Icons series and Hawkins is one of the best. But that's to say because they are all fantastic. It's unbelievable what you get for well under $20: an hour plus of American classical music (great sound) and a multi-page booklet with photos, history and liner notes. If you love jazz, you can not afford not to check these out.

an excellent dvd,i particularly liked the 1964 section due to the addition of harry edison in splendid form!also jo jones and sir charles thompson though hawkins playing is more restricted than in the"62 concert,due,apparently to breathing problems..