Erskine Hawkins Quintet - The Hawk Blows At Midnight

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1961
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:01
Size: 74,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:58)  1. Tuxedo Junction
(3:08)  2. Love Is Here To Stay
(2:40)  3. Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat
(2:33)  4. Midnight Stroll
(2:11)  5. Blue Embers
(2:34)  6. Things Ain't What They Used To Be
(2:17)  7. Cherry
(3:34)  8. The Birth Of The Blues
(2:45)  9. Tippin' In
(2:11) 10. If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)
(2:37) 11. Deep Purple
(2:27) 12. Hawkin' Around

Jazz trumpeter, Erskine Hawkins, was born in Birmingham, Alabama July 26, 1914. A talented high-note trumpeter and a popular bandleader, Erskine Hawkins was nicknamed “The 20th Century Gabriel.” He learned drums and trombone before switching to trumpet when he was 13, and was one of five inaugural inductees into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1978. He also became on of the principal influences on a young rhythm and blues piano player named Ray Charles. While attending the Alabama State Teachers College, he became the leader of the college band, the Bama State Collegians. They went to New York in 1934, became the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, started making records in 1936 and by 1938 were quite successful. The first formal appearance of Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra was in 1938 when the band won a recording contract with RCA Victor. However, the inception of the band had occurred two years earlier when it was known as The 'Bama State Collegians. Hawkins, whose biggest influences were Louis Armstrong records, skipped out on a 'Bama State Collegians band trip to New Jersey so he could play some gigs in New York. At one of these early shows, Armstrong surprised him backstage at the Apollo Theater. From then on, whenever Hawkins came to New York, Armstrong would also take the stage at the Savoy Ballroom, where Hawkins' dance band attracted a loyal following. Hawkins had three major hits (”Tuxedo Junction,” “After Hours” and “Tippin' In”) and was able to keep the big band together all the way until 1953. Hawkins' band was so popular that he was able to retain a permanent roster of players, most of whom were from Birmingham. The style was “down-home” and blues-inspired, but it could still swing and lay down a great dance beat. Two of his chief arrangers were pianist Avery “After Hours” Parrish and trumpeter Sammy Lowe. (See Sammy Lowe's biography, also on this website.) Baritone saxophone soloist Haywood Henry, who stayed with Hawkins until the band broke up in 1953, anchored the music securely in a solid harmony. During the band's heyday, the 1930s and 40s, Hawkins featured vocalists Ida James, Delores Brown and Della Reese. ROCKIN ROLLERS JUBILEE (1938) was ahead of its time, but TUXEDO JUNCTION (1939) became the anthem of American GIs in Europe during the early years of WWII. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/erskinehawkins

Personnel: Erskine Hawkins, trumpet; Bobby Smith, sax; Leroy Kirkland, guitar; Ernest Hayes, piano; Lloyd Trotman, bass; Shep Sheperd, drums

The Hawk Blows At Midnight

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Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra - Holiday For Swing

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:56
Size: 114.3 MB
Styles: Swing, Jazz/Blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[3:26] 1. Holiday For Swing
[3:18] 2. Tippin’ In
[3:31] 3. Bicycle Bounce
[3:23] 4. Shipyard Ramble
[3:42] 5. Soft Winds
[2:51] 6. Caldonia
[3:17] 7. Blue Sea
[3:35] 8. Drifting Along
[3:25] 9. No Use Squawkin'
[3:00] 10. Good Dip
[2:56] 11. Lucky Seven
[3:27] 12. S’posin'
[3:36] 13. Uncle Bud
[3:01] 14. Riff Time
[3:22] 15. Country Boys

b. 26 July 1914, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 11 November 1993, New Jersey, USA. By the time he began playing trumpet at the age of 13, Hawkins had already mastered drums and trombone. It was on trumpet, however, that he established his name as a flamboyant player with an astonishing range. Initially an imitator of Louis Armstrong, Hawkins became leader of the ’Bama State Collegians, an orchestra that he built up into an excellent big band. In the 30s, Hawkins rivalled much bigger names in engagements all across the USA, and in particular at prestigious New York venues such as Roseland and the Savoy. He hired good section men and front-rank soloists, not least trumpeters with whom he happily shared the spotlight. Billed as The Twentieth Century Gabriel, Hawkins made a number of very successful records, including ‘After Hours’ and ‘Tuxedo Junction’, the latter a composition by Hawkins and several members of the band which became their theme tune.

Hawkins continued to lead his big band throughout the 40s, surviving the winter of 1946/7 which saw the end of many name bands. In the 50s he compromised under financial pressure and reduced the band in size, but regularly reassembled the larger unit for special events. In the 60s and 70s he led small groups at New York hotels and clubs and also made occasional appearances at festivals, including a visit to Europe in 1979. In 1986 he was on board the SS Norway for the Fifth Annual Floating Jazz Festival. In much the same manner as his white contemporary Harry James, Hawkins succeeded in combining a spectacular technique and an acute awareness of commercial demands with an innate feeling for good jazz. ~AllMusic

Holiday For Swing mc
Holiday For Swing zippy

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