VIDEO: Coleman Hawkins - Happy Birthday Hawk

• November 21, 1904 Coleman Randolph Hawkins, hall of fame jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Hawkins started playing the saxophone at the age of nine and by fourteen was playing in groups around Kansas. In 1923, he moved to New York City and Joined Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra where he remained until 1934. From 1934 to 1937, Hawkins toured Europe and after returning to the United States played with many jazz giants, including Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sonny Rollins. Albums by Hawkins as leader include “Body and Soul” (1939), “In a Mellow Tone” (1960), and “Sirius” (1966). Hawkins was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1961. Hawkins died on May 19, 1969. His biography, “The Song of the Hawk,” was published in 1990.

Coleman Hawkins records

Body and Soul

11 October 1939: Number 14 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins. Photograph: © Bettmann/Corbis

On 11 October 1939, Coleman Hawkins went into New York's RCA studios with an eight-piece band to record the 1930 composition Body and Soul. It was already a favourite among jazz musicians, but nobody had ever played it like this. Pianist Gene Rodgers plays a straight four-bar introduction before Hawkins swoops in, soloing for three minutes without playing a single note of the tune, gliding over the chord changes with such harmonic logic that he ends up inventing bebop.