Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- Coleman Hawkins transformed the tenor saxophone into one of the signature instruments in jazz. Once regarded as a comic instrument, the saxophone became, in Hawkins's hands, the centerpiece for explorations in this musical tradition. Hawkins first began playing the saxophone at age nine. He moved to New York City in 1923, where he found work with the Fletcher Henderson group. Influenced by trumpeter Louis Armstrong, he pioneered a form of improvisation based on chords rather than melody. By the time he recorded his famous "Body and Soul" in 1939, Hawkins was recognized as the premier saxophonist in jazz and a hero to a new generation of musicians. An international celebrity, he traveled widely in North America and Europe and continued to experiment with his instrument's creative possibilities until his death.
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Artist
- Ronny Jaques, 1910 - 2008
- Sitter
- Coleman Hawkins, 21 Nov 1904 - 20 May 1969
- Date
- c. 1942
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Dan Okrent
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 34.7 x 27.1 cm (13 11/16 x 10 11/16")
- Sheet: 35.1 x 27.8 cm (13 13/16 x 10 15/16")
- Mat: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22")
- Type
- Photograph
