Queer Notions

"Queer Notions" is one of the compositions of the swing era identified by Gunther Schuller as avant-garde or experimental for the era. It does indeed sound a few decades ahead of its time, almost as if it were a piece from the 1960s avant-garde movement. Clearly, Coleman Hawkins was a visionary for the period (early 1930s), as harmonically the piece does sound too "out there" for most of the bands of the decade. Unfortunately for us, the recording technology of the era meant the solo of Hawkins could not be stretched out.