The Hawk and Little Jazz worked together so often that you could be excused for believing that they were joined at the hip (check out a 1961 TV show After Hours for confirmation). Whatever the occasion, they delighted in one another's company and this broadcast is no exception. Backed by the same rhythm section which (under Blakey's name) would back Clifford Brown and Lou Donaldson on two albums taped by Blue Note at the same location two years later, they confidently ease their way through two Hawkins originals ‘Disorder At The Border’ and ‘Stuffy’ plus Rodgers and Hart's ‘Blue Room’.

Hawkins and Howard McGhee were no strangers to each other. Back in 1945 they not only toured together but actually appeared in a club scene in the Hollywood thriller The Crimson Canary. For the three tunes broadcast a week earlier they reprise ‘Disorder At The Boarder’, turn in a healthy version of ‘Rifftide’ and for a ballad, it's a yearning treatment of ‘I Can’t Get Started'.

As far as airshots go, sound-wise it's far better than most and Hawkins more than earning his keep. By way of a worthwhile bonus, Hawkins is backed by the Eddie Higgins trio during the 1959 Playboy Jazz Festival in Chicago. For this extremely well recorded four tune set, he revisits ‘Body And Soul’ to thunderous applause. With so many Coleman Hawkins CDs currently doing the rounds, this is worth your attention.