COLEMAN HAWKINS, nicknamed Hawk, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist born in Saint Joseph, Missouri in 1904 who became a professional musician in his teens playing with Fletcher Henderson's big band between 1923 and 1934.
He is known to be the first major saxophonist in the history of Jazz and seen as one of the pioneer shapers of Jazz, alongside musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton.