Coleman Hawkins's
first major gig was with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds in 1921, and he was
with the band full time from April 1922 to 1923, when he settled in New
York City. In the Jazz Hounds, he coincided with Garvin Bushell, Everett
Robbins, Bubber Miley and Herb Flemming, among others. Hawkins joined
Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, where he remained until 1934, sometimes
doubling on clarinet and bass saxophone. Hawkins's playing changed
significantly during Louis Armstrong's tenure with the Henderson
Orchestra (1924–25). In the late 1920s, Hawkins also participated in
some of the earliest interracial recording sessions with the Mound City
Blue Blowers. During his time with Henderson, he became a star soloist
with an increasing amount of solos space on records. While with the
band, he and Henry "Red" Allen recorded a series of small group sides
for ARC (on their Perfect, Melotone, Romeo, and Oriole labels). Hawkins
also recorded a number of solo recordings, with either piano or with a
pick-up band of Henderson's musicians in 1933–34, just prior to his
period in Europe. He was also featured on a Benny Goodman session on
February 2, 1934 for Columbia, which also featured Mildred Bailey as
guest vocalist.
In late 1934, Hawkins accepted an invitation to play with Jack Hylton's
orchestra in London, and toured Europe as a soloist until 1939,
performing and recording with Django Reinhardt and Benny Carter in Paris
in 1937. Following his return to the United States, on October 11,
1939, he recorded a two-chorus performance of the pop standard "Body and
Soul", which he had been performing at Bert Kelly's New York venue,
Kelly's Stables. In a landmark recording of the swing era, recorded as
an afterthought at the session, Hawkins ignores almost all of the
melody, with only the first four bars stated in a recognizable fashion.
In its exploration of harmonic structure it is considered by many to be
the next evolutionary step in jazz recording after Louis Armstrong's
"West End Blues" in 1928.