Body & Soul

Product Description:

Personnel includes: Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone); Thelma Carpenter (vocals); Jackie Fields, Bud Johnson (alto saxophone); Allen Eager (tenor saxophone); Charlie Shavers, Fats Navarro, Jimmy Nottingham (trumpet); Jimmy Buffington (French horn); J.C. Higginbotham, J.J. Johnson, Urbie Green (trombone); Sid Jekowsky (flute, clarinet); Hal McKusick, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Al Young, Romeo Penque (reeds); Marty Wilson (vibraphone); Gene Rodgers, Jimmy Jones, Hank Jones (piano); Lawrence Lucie, Mary Osborne, Chuck Wayne, Barry Galbraith (guitar); Oscar Smith, Johnny Williams, Al McKibbon, Milt Hinton, Jack Lesberg, Arnold Fishkin (bass); Art Herbert, Walter Johnson, Shelly Manne, Max Roach, Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at RCA Studios, New York, New York between 1939 and 1956. Includes liner notes by Dan Morgenstern.

Digitally remastered from original metal parts and master tapes by Ed Begley and Bernardo Cosachov.

Named after Hawkins' 1939 proto-bebop classic, this legendary collection proves why Hawkins is considered by many the finest tenor ever. Picking up his career after a stint alongside Louis Armstrong in Fletcher Henderson's big band and five years in prewar Europe, BODY AND SOUL focuses on Hawkins' essential small group sides of the '40s. Here the former swing enthusiast helped create bebop with the help of future jazz icons Benny Carter, J.J. Johnson, Zoot Sims and Max Roach. From "Meet Doctor Foo" to "Angel Face," Hawkins transforms standards like "My Blue Heaven" into something startlingly new and creates originals like "Bouncing With Bean" that would go on to influenced an entire generation of players. The mid-'50s orchestral sessions that end the album show Hawkins' eagerness to bring bebop's structures into new arenas, and the lovely, string-laden remake of the title track indicates that the experiment was a success.