“When I heard Hawk, I learned to play ballads.” – Miles Davis on Coleman Hawkins

It’s the great jazz tenor saxophonist’s Coleman Hawkins’ birthday.

Fantastic interview with Sonny Rollins about Ben Webster, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. I thank Glenn Kenny for Retweeting it on Twitter. It’s a goldmine.

In that interview, Rollins says about Coleman “Hawk” Hawkins:

“Thelonious Monk once asked Coleman Hawkins, ‘Hawk, how could you make a song that’s a ballad and you didn’t play the melody, and there was no words and still it became a hit?’ ‘Body and Soul’ is a masterpiece. It still is, will always be. Far be it beyond me to explain it. It’s why Coleman Hawkins is in the firmament.”

Here’s Coleman Hawkins’ “Body and Soul”, 1939. His performance in “Body and Soul” was so radical it inspired an entire generation of jazz musicians. He does not play the melody line. Instead, he explores the structure of the song, digging into it.