Alert for Coleman Hawkins Fans

[Blair N. Cummings]

Don`t say you didn`t know until it was over. http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/ ... -broadcast And pass it on. Authentic music of every genre needs to be re-asserted and disseminated more urgently than ever in my lifetime.

[Bruce Bernard Williams]

Thanks Blair for sharing that info about the program. I missed it and am sorry that I'm just now getting around to replying. My parents owned and operated the first black motel in the state of Oklahoma along with a restaurant/nightclub. Before integration, celebrities would stay at our motel as they weren't allowed to stay at the hotels in downtown Oklahoma City. This afforded me the opportunity to meet many, many jazz artists that would play venues such as The Hall of Mirrors, The Zebra Room, Bryant Center, and Joe's Skyline. The list of artists that I met is very long and just as impressive: Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Smith, Rusty Bryant, Billie Holiday, Jerry Butler, Nancy Wilson, The Platters, and just too many others to name. Coleman Hawkins was and still is a National Treasure in my books. I agree that more attention should be paid to the greats more now than ever before. There will NEVER be artists of such calibre as the ones that let their music PROVE just that! I still listen to people like Nina Simone, Ethel Ennis, Billy Eckstine, Arthur Prysock, Brubeck, Mulligan, and everyone else and each time that I do, it's like a lesson—quenching my thirst for knowledge and experience.