Lyrics | Artists | Coleman Hawkins

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Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins was one of the leading American jazz players of the pre-war era and is widely credited with the being one of the first to see the potential of the tenor sax as a solo instrument in jazz. Hawkins attended high school in Topeka, Kansas and benefited from a musical education which included studying harmony and composition as well as learning the piano and cello. He moved to New York in the early 1920s joining the Jazz Hounds led by vaudeville singer Mamie Smith. In the 1930s Hawkins' reputation as a gifted sax player grew and he performed on some of the best known...