Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight (1966)

Hawkins's last strong recording finds the veteran, 43 years after his recording debut with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds, improvising creatively on a wide variety of material on this CD, ranging from "Intermezzo" and "Here's That Rainy Day" to "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" and "Indian Summer." Best is an adventurous version of "Out of Nowhere" that shows that the tenor-saxophonist was still coming up with new ideas in 1965. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide.

As an In expression, “wrapped tight” can have a lot of meanings, all of them superlative. A girl abundantly endowed with Nature’s most attractive gifts is said to be “wrapped tight.” A jaguar swinging down the highway with Count Basie at the wheel is, in a special sense, wrapped is wrapped tight. And among musicians, because of his ability, imagination and universally recognized authority, Coleman Hawkins is assuredly wrapped tight.

The encomium can well be applied to this album, too, because it puts the great tenor saxophonist in contexts that fit him excellently. Wrapped Tight, a Manny Albam original, is one of six arrangements written by Manny that are extraordinarily successful in creating a snug, orchestral atmosphere, and this despite the limited instrumentation. More than mere points of arrival and departure, they serve to enhance the Hawkins improvisations. Enframing and supporting them, they also remove a measure of responsibility from the star’s shoulders, and his playing is in consequence the more relaxed. That he remains perfectly capable of fashioning entire performances himself is very adequately shown on Out of Nowhere and the five-minute Indian Summer, where he is accompanied by the rhythm section only.

In short, then titles wrapped tight by the man for whom the tenor saxophone was invented - Coleman Hawkins.
~ Stanley Dance, from Liner Notes.

Impulse! Records/GRP Records; AS-87/GRP 11092; 1966/1991

Recorded 22^nd February (#1-6), 1965 and 1^st March, 1965 (#7-12) at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Track Listing:

1. Marcheta {Victor Schartzinger} (3:06)

2. Intermezzo {Pietro Mascagni} (3:38)

3. Wrapped Tight {Manny Albam} (3:27)

4. Red Roses For A Blue Lady {Sid Tepper, Roy Brodsky} (2:25)

5. She's Fit {Coleman Hawkins} (2:44)

6. Beautiful Girl {Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown} (4:27)

7. And I Still Love You {Pauline Rivelli, Ruth Roberts, Stanley Clayton} (3:12)

8. Bean's Place {Bob Hammer, Buck Clayton} (2:54)

9. Here's That Rainy Day {Jimmy van Heusen, Johnny Burke} (5:22)

10. I Won't Dance {Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern} (3:21)

11. Indian Summer {Victor Herbert, Al Dubin} (5:02)

12. Out Of Nowhere {Edward Heyman, Johnny Green} (3:42)

Personnel:

Colemans Hawkins - Tenor Saxophone

Bill Berry - Trumpet (#1,2,3,7,8)

Snooky Young - Trumpet (#4,5,6)

Urbie Green - Trombone (#1,8)

Barry Harris - Piano

Buddy Catlett - Bass

Eddie Locke - Drums

Credits:

Producer - Bob Thiele

Recording Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder