Coleman Hawkins could read music before the printed word. He
began piano lessons at five, learned the cello, and picked up the C
melody saxophone at nine. He played his first paying gig at twelve, and
when he was thirteen his parents sent him from St. Joseph, Missouri,
where he was born in 1904, to Chicago to attend high school and study
music. Playing sax in a pit band there, he was discovered by singer Mamie Smith. In 1922 he joined her Jazz Hounds, playing sax and doubling on cello.After leaving Smith, Hawkins freelanced around New York in 1923 with Fletcher Henderson’s band which eventually included a young Louis Armstrong.
He was making good money and, although he was frugal, he dressed
expensively and drove fine cars. He stayed with Henderson until 1934
when he took a leave of absence to work in England for band leader Jack
Hylton.
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