Buyer beware: there are multiple Coleman Hawkins compilations called "Body and Soul" - this is the one you want to get. This collection brings together many of the scattered singles Hawkins released before the album format finally caught on in the 1950's. It's pretty common to discover music from this era through collections such as this. For a single disc it covers a surprising amount of ground.
These recordings from 1939 to 1956 provide a helpful bridge from the big band stuff of the 1920's to 1940's and the bebop era of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and associates. The early tracks use a more old-fashioned instrumental approach more familiar to fans of the Hot 5's and 7's days (clarinet, strummed guitar) than the later tracks (drums, string bass), showing Hawkins progression toward bop. In his later years he would show up in a number of unexpected sideman gigs with younger performers like Sonny Rollins.
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