Bean Bags
Coleman Hawkins has been called the first truly great saxophonist, in jazz or otherwise. And Milt Jackson, who elected to play for decades in the collectiveModern Jazz Quartetrather than pursue a mainly solo career, is certainly the first great vibraphonist in jazz. Jackson learned from pioneerLionel Hamptonbut developed a harmonic approach to his instrument that sparkled and resonated as warmly as either tuned drums or a piano. As coleaders of this 1959 session, reissued here in exactly the shape of the original LP, Hawkins and Coleman reveal their elegant immersion in slow tempos and blues structures. They bounce smoldering ideas off each other ("Close Your Eyes") and play to their individual strengths on the two Jackson-penned blues, with Hawkins playing breathy shadows and then leaping registers and Hawkins letting the vibes sing with controlled sustain and all the complex art of slowed bebop. The rest of the band is notable, too: bassist Eddie Jones and MJQ drummer Connie Kay work with young guitaristKenny Burrelland pianist Tommy Flanagan to merge harmony and rhythm wonderfully.--Andrew Bartlett