COLEMAN HAWKINS – 1944-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 863 (1996) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Some of Hawkins' best combo work was cut during the '40s. Having returned from an extended European stay, Hawkins fell in with his old swing pals and also headed up quite a few outfits with emerging beboppers. This Classics disc reveals the contrasting mix with 23 sides featuring the tenor great with the likes of both swing trumpeter Charlie Shavers and bop iconoclast Thelonious Monk. The four Monk tracks, while not especially revealing, do contain some fine playing, especially on "Recollections" and "Drifting on a Reed." In addition to several quality performances with Shavers, the program also includes four excellent bluesy ballads featuring Hawkins with Buck Clayton, Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart, and Denzil Best. And for early jump blues fans, there's even a clutch of numbers by Hawkins and Walter Thomas & His Jump Cats ("Lookout Jack!"). Lookout, indeed. Stephen Cook
Tracklist :
1     All the Things You Are 2:58
Jerome Kern    
2     Step on It 3:08     
Unknown Artist    
3     Riding on 52nd Street 2:51    
Unknown Artist    
4     Memories of You 2:57
Eubie Blake / Andy Razaf    
5     Out to Lunch 2:54
Jimmy Davis / Joe Davis / Walter Thomas    
6     In the Hush of the Night 2:57
Dorsey, Davis, Dorsey
7     Look Out Jack! 2:47
Jimmy Davis / Irene Higginbotham    
8     Every Man for Himself 2:52
Jimmy Davis / Walter Thomas    
9     I'm Yours 3:29
Johnny Green / E.Y. "Yip" Harburg    
10     Under a Blanket of Blue 3:10
Jerry Livingston / Al J. Neiburg / Marty Symes    
11     Beyond the Blue Horizon 2:58
W. Frank Harling / Richard A. Whiting    
12     A Shanty in Old Shanty Town 2:58
Jack Little / Little Jack Little / John Siras / Joe Young / Joseph Young    
13     My Man 3:14
Jacques Charles / Channing Pollack / Albert Willemetz / Maurice Yvain    
14     El Salon de Gutbucket 2:59
Charlie Shavers    
15     Embraceable You 3:02
George Gershwin    
16     Undecided 3:05     
Sydney Robin / Charlie Shavers    
17     Recollections 2:54
Walter Thomas    
18     Drifiting on a Reed 3:04
Charlie Parker    
19     Flyin' Hawk 2:50
Walter Thomas    
20     On the Bean 2:41
Walter Thomas    
21     Sportsman's Hop 3:00     
Sir Charles Thompson    
22     Bean Stalking 3:08
Coleman Hawkins / Erskine Hawkins    
23     Ready for Love 2:59
Howard McGhee