July 26, 1914

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Erskine Hawkins was born in Birmingham. Known as the “Twentieth Century Gabriel,” Hawkins played trumpet for the Collegians, an Alabama State University jazz band that earned a reputation as one of the best in the country. In 1934, the band moved to New York and with Hawkins as bandleader, became the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. The orchestra quickly evolved into a popular dance band known for its flamboyant style, medium-fast tempos and bluesy qualities. In 1939, the band recorded its biggest hit, “Tuxedo Junction.” Hawkins was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Erskine Hawkins achieved wider fame after he and his band moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in 1934. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Erskine Hawkins, jazz musician and trumpeter, 1947. (RCA Victor Records, Billboard, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.