Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969),
nicknamed Hawk and sometimes "Bean", was an
American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as
Joachim E. Berendt explained: "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". While Hawkins is strongly associated with the
swing music and
big band era, he had a role in the development of
bebop in the 1940s.