Saxes Inc.

During the summer of 1959, Coleman Hawkins was riding the crest of his late-‘50s triumphs, performing at festivals in Newport, Chicago, and Toronto, gigging at the Bayou Club in Washington D.C. with Roy Eldridge, and spending lots of time in recording studios, including a date with the Red Garland Trio. In August, Hawkins participated in a Warner Bros session involving no less than eight other saxophonists. Until Lone Hill Jazz reissued it in 2008, Saxes Inc. was one of the great overlooked Hawkins albums of the late '50s. Georgie Auld is featured on "Sweet and Lovely", Gene Quill and Phil Woods share "Night in Tunisia," Al Cohn and Zoot Sims pair up for Lester Young's "Tickle Toe," and Hawkins is the primary voice on "The Gypsy." The recently deceased Pres was also invoked by a solid interpretation of his "Jumpin' with Symphony Sid." Arrangements by Bob Prince enabled the sax ensemble, which also included Seldon Powell, Hal McKusick, and Herb Geller, to operate skillfully as a unit. The nonet was supported by the rhythm team of Dick Katz, George Duvivier, and Osie Johnson. The group was somewhat reminiscent of the more modestly proportioned Coleman Hawkins Sax Ensemble as heard on Harry Lim's Keynote label in 1944. Perhaps the producers of this reissue were thinking of Lim when they added to the package a nearly forgotten album entitled Trombone Scene, which was recorded for the Vik label in 1956. The resemblance to Keynote's Benny Morton Trombone Choir is even more pronounced, with Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Knepper, Urbie Green, and Eddie Bert working with arrangements by pianist and ex-bandleader Elliot Lawrence, who was serving as producer for Vik at the time. A more contemporaneous parallel could be drawn with Pete Rugolo's instrument-oriented projects that came out on Mercury during this period. And an even closer precedent for Saxes Inc. occurred in April 1959 when Hawkins teamed with Buddy Tate, Arnett Cobb, Lockjaw Davis, and Shirley Scott for an album not so cleverly titled Very Saxy. ~ arwulf arwulf|