The Most Complete And Afforable Collection Available
Shawn K. Smith | Indianapolis, IN United States | 08/12/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First let's start with the facts about this Box set. It contains 10 full length CDs totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 tracks arranged chronologically. All of them are complete takes with no "false start takes," and no alternate takes. It does contain a 40-page booklet with a biography of Hawk. Each CD is in a full size normal case with a booklet that has the date and lineup for each track. There is also a little bio about Hawk repeated in each individual CD booklet. This is actually one of the best packages for a box set I have ever come across, with the key measure being that each CD has it's own normal case with track information on the back of the case, the 40 page booklet is separate, and chronology is just a bonus. It sounds pretty simple, but I can't think of another box set that is packaged like that (excluding other box sets from the Past Perfect label).
Now onto the music. It is ten discs of Coleman Hawkins. Enough said... well maybe not. The set begins in the 20s with Hawks early career and covers his recordings through the middle 1950s. Of course the quality of the early recordings isn't the best, but it is something you get used to if you listen to a lot of music from this period. The remastering job seems to be more than adequate. As far as song coverage goes it doesn't get much better than this. This is to my knowledge the most complete set of Coleman Hawkins music available anywhere. There really isn't much to else to say."
Hot Stuff
Kenneth M. Goodman | Cleveland, Ohio United States | 09/04/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One point of information I'd like to reveal about
this fantastic box set of the great Coleman Hawkins.
Of ten CDs, the first five have vocals; the second
five do not have vocals. This is important if you
like your jazz vocal-free. I like to take the
five vocal-free CDs and put them in my CD player on
"random play" and then I'm set----hours and hours
of GENIUS without interruptive vocals. It don't
get no better than this."
Track Listings (99) - Disc #1