Before Coleman Hawkins came to maturity, Sidney Bechet and Adrian Rollini had already taken giant steps on the soprano and bass saxophones respectively, establishing the idea that the saxophone could be used to make great jazz. It was left to Hawkins to process the innovations of Louis Armstrong in an intensely personal way, and fashion out of them his own voice.
https://www.mosaicrecords.com/the-great-jazz-artists/coleman-hawkins/