Erskine Hawkins—”Swingin’ On Lenox Avenue (1939)

Alabaman band leader, trumpeter and composer Erskine Hawkins (1914-1993) is best known for his million selling hit "Tuxedo Junction," waxed in the summer of 1939. Two months earlier, on May 14th, he took his band to the Victor Studios in New York for a Bluebird label session. The fourth and last title recorded that day was "Swingin' On Lennox Avenue," written by Erskine's Florida-born alto saxophonist and arranger William Johnson (1912-1960), who was also his co-composer of "Tuxedo Junction."

Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra: Erskine Hawkins, Sam Lowe, Wilbur Bascomb and Marcellus Green-trumpets; Edward Sims and Robert Page-trombones; Bill Johnson and Jimmy Mitchelle-alto saxophones; Julian Dash-tenor saxophone; Heywood Henry-clarinet and baritone saxophone; Avery Parish-piano; William McLemore-guitar, Leemie Stanfield-double bass; and James Morrison-drums.

Hawkins had made his first appearance in New York in 1934 at the Harlem Opera House as the ‘Bama State Collegians. The musicians, who had come together in college, founded the core of the orchestra, soon to be renamed Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra. Hawkins’ musicians played with smooth and grace and featured inspired soloists.

The orchestra’s popularity was such that the band, after taking over from Chick Webb at the Savoy, stayed there nearly a decade. The first year Erskine Hawkins’s band played at the Savoy, the hotel management let it be known that they “did the best summer business since the Savoy was founded.” The band broadcasted from the Savoy ballroom over the NBC network, coast-to-coast, three times weekly. In the course of a half year of broadcasting, Hawkins received an average of 500 fan letters per week.

Hawkins remembered that when the band leaders completed their night's engagement at various New York cabarets and hotels, and "I finished up at the Savoy, we'd got together and jammed in Harlem, where after hours places would stay open until morning." One of his band members recalled "We wasn't making much money, but we had a hell of a lot of fun."

Lennox Avenue, was originally part of Sixth Avenue until it was renamed in 1887 for philanthropist James Lennox. Half a century later, the clubs and restaurants made Lennox Avenue the most popular street in Harlem. From 1923 until 1936, the famous Cotton Club was located at 644 Lenox Avenue. This whites-only establishment featured the most popular black entertainers of the era. During the 1960s, the jazz scene had vanished and Lennox Avenue became the center of the civil rights movement in New York. The Harlem street, where once jazz music featured at each of the clubs, today is co-named Malcolm X Boulevard.