Album Reviews

This simple 1957 session featuring the mellow-toned tenor sax player backed by Oscar Peterson's trio (bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis) plus drummer Alvin Stoller doesn't set off any sparks but like a good Cognac, it goes down easy and brings great warmth and much pleasure, both musically and sonically.

The group runs through a series of mid-tempo standards plus one Hawk original, with the saxophone closely miked, particularly well recorded (for 1957) and mostly placed center stage. You can hear the keys clicking and when Hawk goes low, he produces a rich, oozy mellefluous tone that will have you drooling.

It's not that Hawkins was old fashioned and out of style when this was recorded. He'd made the adjustment to Bop, hired Monk, Gillespie and Miles, among others early in their careers. The purpose of this session was to produce a record easy on the ears.

The dry mix places Peterson's somewhat boxy sounding piano hard left, and bass, drums and guitar hard right, but given who's starring, that's okay. There's some hiss and noise and the cymbals, while pleasingly reproduced, don't exactly crackle the air, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is hearing a jazz great improvise around familiar changes and produce that sweet, seductive sound.

So yes, side one ends with “Melancholy Baby,” and by today's standards this is tame, almost fluffy stuff, but given the joyless, medicinal quality of much of today's jazz, it provides welcome relief.

So plop this disc on your turntable, sit back, don't think too much and just let Hawkins's big sound wash over you. This relaxed, swaggering set, captured on tape almost 50 years ago is what having a turntable is all about.