FEBRUARY 7

                 COLEMAN HAWKINS
                     And Confreres

                      Recording Date:
                           February 7, 1958  tk 3-7
                           October 16, 1957  tk 1-2

                      Personnel tk 3-7
                           Roy Eldridge        TP
                           Coleman Hawkins TS
                           Hank Jones           P
                           George Duvivier   B
                           Mickey Sheen       D

                      Personnel tk 1-2
                          Coleman Hawkins   TS
                          Ben Webster          TS
                          Oscar Peterson       P
                          Herb Ellis               G
                          Ray Brown             B
                                                                                                            Alvin Stoller               D

LINK

REVIEW FROM AMAZON:

In first two tracks Hawkins is joined by the ever-swinging Oscar Peterson trio, Ben Webster (who takes back seat on second track) and drummer Alvin Stoller, a nice group of hard swingers who nevertheless show more of their mellow side than some might expect…The rest of the album is equally rewarding; the Hawk stretches his wings working with Roy Eldridge (tp), Hank Jones (p), George Duvivier (b) and Mickey Sheen (dm) – the drummer is the only musician on the album I don’t think I’ve heard before; Hank Jones and Duvivier show the swinging ellegance I’ve heard from them before…

In his liner notes Nat Hentoff says something interesting and quite significant – when playing with Hawk, Eldridge doesn’t feel the urge to light up the proceedings with a fierce solo (pyrotechnical hysteria is something often mentioned by Roy’s detractors…). Hawkins’ playing is so full of energy even in slower tempoes that Eldridge also takes it down a notch and constructs his solos with less high register explorations…This, at first glance quite laid back album (Hawk relaxes, one might say) is therefore a great example of the jazz giants at the hight of their power, playing subtly and intelligently, toying with the jazz-idiom they helped to create (or that they joined with a lot of respect).