Some of the coolest sounds around, 28 May 2000
This is a wonderful album of jazz by one of the great tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins. Every note is played with feeling, tenderness and great skill. There's not a weak track on this album; each one is a carefully crafted piece of musicianship. At full price this would be highly recommended - at bargain price it more or less becomes an automatic choice. Coleman Hawkins should definitely be better known, and this album is a marvellous place to become acquainted with him and his music.

Some of the coolest sounds around, 28 May 2000
This is a wonderful album of jazz by one of the great tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins. Every note is played with feeling, tenderness and great skill. There's not a weak track on this album; each one is a carefully crafted piece of musicianship. At full price this would be highly recommended - at bargain price it more or less becomes an automatic choice. Coleman Hawkins should definitely be better known, and this album is a marvellous place to become acquainted with him and his music.

Outstanding collection of a seminal jazzman's work., 08 May 2002
By choice I am a hard bop man but do collect widely for my jazz library. For some time now I have been adding Proper's box sets to my collection, thus I bought this one as a matter of course rather than specific interest - now I cannot stop listening to it.

All you Coltrane fans should go out and get it immediately: you will hear the foundations of the man's music in this and also hear the most thrilling soloist, on reed, prior to Parker, in jazz.

Add to that the comprehensive listings, excellent photographic reproductions and well-written musical biography and you are purchasing a true gem, and at the price of a large organic chicken!

This is a collection to be savoured; Bechet's work flows like a great river through it showing the way, to every future soloist, what jazz can sound like when played by a master.

Well done Proper, you have excelled yourself. Everyone who likes music from Bach to Marsalis should buy this one!

Some of the coolest sounds around, 28 May 2000
This is a wonderful album of jazz by one of the great tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins. Every note is played with feeling, tenderness and great skill. There's not a weak track on this album; each one is a carefully crafted piece of musicianship. At full price this would be highly recommended - at bargain price it more or less becomes an automatic choice. Coleman Hawkins should definitely be better known, and this album is a marvellous place to become acquainted with him and his music.

Outstanding collection of a seminal jazzman's work., 08 May 2002
By choice I am a hard bop man but do collect widely for my jazz library. For some time now I have been adding Proper's box sets to my collection, thus I bought this one as a matter of course rather than specific interest - now I cannot stop listening to it.

All you Coltrane fans should go out and get it immediately: you will hear the foundations of the man's music in this and also hear the most thrilling soloist, on reed, prior to Parker, in jazz.

Add to that the comprehensive listings, excellent photographic reproductions and well-written musical biography and you are purchasing a true gem, and at the price of a large organic chicken!

This is a collection to be savoured; Bechet's work flows like a great river through it showing the way, to every future soloist, what jazz can sound like when played by a master.

Well done Proper, you have excelled yourself. Everyone who likes music from Bach to Marsalis should buy this one!

Hypnotic Sidney Bechet.., 13 Apr 2008

Very nearly didn't buy this. No-one had reviewed it so I was rather in
the dark. Now that I have the disc I am addicted to Sidney Bechet! RCA
Victor has given us a first-rate recording - apart from only one track
from 1949 which is a little scratchy - but I still feel the 5 stars
are merited for the standard of Bechet's artistry. His rendition of
Petite Fleur and Le Marchand De Poisson is hypnotic...He demands your
full undivided attention - and gets it. If you don't know Bechet but
like jazz - buy this CD - and if you are already a Bechet fan, you
won't be disappointed.

Coleman Hawkins had one of the longest creative careers in jazz, and this compilation, spanning every decade in which he recorded (and accompanying Ken Burns's documentary Jazz), shows that his imagination was as enduring as his ruggedly bristling tenor saxophone sound. In the 1920s he was virtually the creator of jazz saxophone playing, freeing it from the mushy sound it had in dance bands. By the time Bean recorded his tune "Queer Notions" with Fletcher Henderson in 1933, he was already playing with elements of atonality in his music. His 1939 "Body And Soul" is a breakthrough in the development of the jazz solo, a masterpiece of sustained harmonic invention. While many of his generation resisted the bebop revolution of the 1940s, Hawkins was a notable sponsor, among the first to hire its exponents and to record tunes like Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n' You" and Thelonious Monk's "I Mean You". In the later years of his career, he played across a broad spectrum of jazz. There's a sublime meeting here with fellow swing tenor giant Ben Webster over a Latin beat on "La Rosita". Max Roach's "Driva Man" was one of the first works of explicit social protest in jazz. And Duke Ellington wrote the concluding "Self Portrait Of The Bean" for Hawkins for a 1962 session in which they belatedly joined forces. --Stuart Broomer

Of all the huge number of Ellington recordings, very few feature his unique piano work at any length, and those that do are usually unpopulated with front-line horns. By contrast, the three tracks here that involve him (and those on the Back To Back album from the same session) show him interacting with Johnny Hodges and trumpeter Harry Edison in a unique sextet. Edison, Les Spann (guitar/flute), Al Hall (bass) and ex-Basie drummer Jo Jones were musicians he was unaccustomed to working with, and the inspirational sparks flew. A storming version of "Stompy Jones" (especially during the piano solo and closing ensemble), the lesser-known "Goin' Up" from the movie Cabin In The Sky, plus Fats Waller's "Squeeze Me" are performances to treasure. More conventional but not inferior are the remaining septet tracks led by Hodges with Billy Strayhorn on piano, Ben Webster, Lawrence Brown and Roy Eldridge. All the tunes are played at various medium tempos, and everything is imbued with relaxed swing. Once more, the combination of a Ducal atmosphere with the non-Ellingtonians Eldridge and Jo Jones (again) makes for a highly successful performance. --Brian Priestley

This album is virtually a showcase for the alto saxophone of Johnny Hodges. The only other soloist on most of the numbers is trombonist Lawrence Brown who is wonderful on "Stardust". He's accompanied by the Duke Ellington band with Billy Strayhorn replacing Ellington at the piano and the crisp drumming throughout is by Sam Woodyard. But half a dozen of the Ellingtonians including Harry Carney and Paul Gonsalves solo on Hodges's own tune, "Tailor Made". All the arrangements were written by Strayhorn and most of the tunes are his or Ellington's, including fine lesser-played pieces like "The Gal From Joe's" and "Azure". Hodges always contrived to be impeccable and inspired at the same time. He was one of the great originals, instantly identifiable by his superb sound, impeccable poise and instinctive feeling for jazz. He was remarkable for many things, not least his ability to play romantic music without ever sounding sentimental or banal. A perfect example of this is on "Your Love Has Faded" where the listener is treated to the sort of playing that caused Charlie Parker to speak of "Johnny Lily Pons Hodges". --Steve Voce--

Some of the coolest sounds around, 28 May 2000
This is a wonderful album of jazz by one of the great tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins. Every note is played with feeling, tenderness and great skill. There's not a weak track on this album; each one is a carefully crafted piece of musicianship. At full price this would be highly recommended - at bargain price it more or less becomes an automatic choice. Coleman Hawkins should definitely be better known, and this album is a marvellous place to become acquainted with him and his music.

Outstanding collection of a seminal jazzman's work., 08 May 2002
By choice I am a hard bop man but do collect widely for my jazz library. For some time now I have been adding Proper's box sets to my collection, thus I bought this one as a matter of course rather than specific interest - now I cannot stop listening to it.

All you Coltrane fans should go out and get it immediately: you will hear the foundations of the man's music in this and also hear the most thrilling soloist, on reed, prior to Parker, in jazz.

Add to that the comprehensive listings, excellent photographic reproductions and well-written musical biography and you are purchasing a true gem, and at the price of a large organic chicken!

This is a collection to be savoured; Bechet's work flows like a great river through it showing the way, to every future soloist, what jazz can sound like when played by a master.

Well done Proper, you have excelled yourself. Everyone who likes music from Bach to Marsalis should buy this one!

Hypnotic Sidney Bechet.., 13 Apr 2008

Very nearly didn't buy this. No-one had reviewed it so I was rather in
the dark. Now that I have the disc I am addicted to Sidney Bechet! RCA
Victor has given us a first-rate recording - apart from only one track
from 1949 which is a little scratchy - but I still feel the 5 stars
are merited for the standard of Bechet's artistry. His rendition of
Petite Fleur and Le Marchand De Poisson is hypnotic...He demands your
full undivided attention - and gets it. If you don't know Bechet but
like jazz - buy this CD - and if you are already a Bechet fan, you
won't be disappointed.

The Finest Possible Showpiece for a Legend, 13 Nov 2002
The more snide critic that this album barely qualifies as jazz, but it is the firm framework of Billy Strayhorn's specially commissioned new arrangements (ranging from the reworking of the 1940's hit 'Azure' to the tweaking of the introduction and ensemble passages on 'Jeep's Blues'), that allows Hodges to shine as a soloist comletely unhindered.
The results are spectacular - no man in history has achieved such liquid purity, such languid poise and elegance as Hodges on this album. From the falling first notes of 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore' he is at his best, glissing, bending and swelling as only he could.
He may be superb, but he is run close by the majesty of his old compatriot in the Ellington Band, Laurence Brown, whose trombone lights up Hoagy Carmichael's classic 'Stardust'.
It is the very quality of Strayhorns arrangements that make this album so approachable - many of the classic Ellingtonian discords have disappeared, and the modern idioms that interested Hodges in the mid 1960's have yet to appear. The result is perfect, easy-listening Jazz majesty - this album is certainly one of the jewels of the known World.

Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins were both involved in unusual collaborations with much younger musicians in the 1960s, but Ellington Meets Hawkins is as surprising as any of those inter-generational sessions. With a band of Duke's greatest veterans-alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges, baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, trombonist Lawrence Brown and trumpeter and violinist Ray Nance--it's classic small-group Ellingtonia with one essential difference. "Limbo Jazz" and "The Ricitic", pulled together for the occasion, are playful tunes with touches of lounge Latin. The latter becomes a delightful dialogue focused on Nance's violin and Hawkins and Ellington's inspired accompaniment. The finest moments come with "Mood Indigo", a beautiful vehicle for Hawkins' warmly rambunctious tenor, and "Self-Portrait of the Bean", an Ellington-Strayhorn tribute that Ellington only finished in the studio on the day of recording. Rising to the special moment, Hawkins invests the ballad with extraordinary depth and grace. --Stuart Broomer

At the height of the swing era, small-group jazz sometimes found itself neglected by record companies. Thus began the rise of the devoted independent label willing to record music without great sales potential. This CD combines excellent material from unrelated sessions recorded in 1938 and 1940 by the Hot Record Society. Jack Teagarden's octet--which includes a number of Duke Ellington sidemen, including Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, and Ben Webster--emphasizes Teagarden's lyricism, as on the rich dirge of "St. James Infirmary," here extended to the unusual length of four minutes. The uniquely laconic clarinetist Pee Wee Russell leads a lively Dixieland octet and trio, both featuring James P. Johnson and the inspired drums and voice of New Orleans's Zutty Singleton. --Stuart Broomer

Some of the coolest sounds around, 28 May 2000
This is a wonderful album of jazz by one of the great tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins. Every note is played with feeling, tenderness and great skill. There's not a weak track on this album; each one is a carefully crafted piece of musicianship. At full price this would be highly recommended - at bargain price it more or less becomes an automatic choice. Coleman Hawkins should definitely be better known, and this album is a marvellous place to become acquainted with him and his music.

Outstanding collection of a seminal jazzman's work., 08 May 2002
By choice I am a hard bop man but do collect widely for my jazz library. For some time now I have been adding Proper's box sets to my collection, thus I bought this one as a matter of course rather than specific interest - now I cannot stop listening to it.

All you Coltrane fans should go out and get it immediately: you will hear the foundations of the man's music in this and also hear the most thrilling soloist, on reed, prior to Parker, in jazz.

Add to that the comprehensive listings, excellent photographic reproductions and well-written musical biography and you are purchasing a true gem, and at the price of a large organic chicken!

This is a collection to be savoured; Bechet's work flows like a great river through it showing the way, to every future soloist, what jazz can sound like when played by a master.

Well done Proper, you have excelled yourself. Everyone who likes music from Bach to Marsalis should buy this one!

Hypnotic Sidney Bechet.., 13 Apr 2008

Very nearly didn't buy this. No-one had reviewed it so I was rather in
the dark. Now that I have the disc I am addicted to Sidney Bechet! RCA
Victor has given us a first-rate recording - apart from only one track
from 1949 which is a little scratchy - but I still feel the 5 stars
are merited for the standard of Bechet's artistry. His rendition of
Petite Fleur and Le Marchand De Poisson is hypnotic...He demands your
full undivided attention - and gets it. If you don't know Bechet but
like jazz - buy this CD - and if you are already a Bechet fan, you
won't be disappointed.

The Finest Possible Showpiece for a Legend, 13 Nov 2002
The more snide critic that this album barely qualifies as jazz, but it is the firm framework of Billy Strayhorn's specially commissioned new arrangements (ranging from the reworking of the 1940's hit 'Azure' to the tweaking of the introduction and ensemble passages on 'Jeep's Blues'), that allows Hodges to shine as a soloist comletely unhindered.
The results are spectacular - no man in history has achieved such liquid purity, such languid poise and elegance as Hodges on this album. From the falling first notes of 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore' he is at his best, glissing, bending and swelling as only he could.
He may be superb, but he is run close by the majesty of his old compatriot in the Ellington Band, Laurence Brown, whose trombone lights up Hoagy Carmichael's classic 'Stardust'.
It is the very quality of Strayhorns arrangements that make this album so approachable - many of the classic Ellingtonian discords have disappeared, and the modern idioms that interested Hodges in the mid 1960's have yet to appear. The result is perfect, easy-listening Jazz majesty - this album is certainly one of the jewels of the known World.

Bechet and The Wild One, 16 Nov 2008
When discussing the greatest trumpet players in pre-modern idioms (or in general for that matter) Wild Bill Davison seems to be a good topic;
although Sidney Bechet is the star of the album, Davison's hot and powerful cornet is a more than significant feature...

Not discounting the importance of the rest of the three groups that accompany these two giants, it is the collaboration of Sidney and Wild Bill that'll make you come back for more of this great music.
Maybe this is not the best version of "Tiger Rag" you've ever heard, but listen to Davison's solo and obligatto work on "Tin Roof Blues" or "Nobody knows you when you're down and out" and the general drive of "Runnin' Wild"... Although not being the biggest fan of soprano sax, I still really like this album.

The rest of the line-up includes pianists Art Hodes and Joe Sullivan, as well as bassists Walter Page and Pops Foster, all the tracks are recorded in 1949 and 1950.