Paul Hawkins was a DC-born percussionist, bandleader and dancer who was for decades a mainstay of Washington's Latin jazz scene.



A life-long DC resident, Paul Hawkins was involved in the DC music scene from the 1950s—when he was winning dance contests at Turner’s Arena—through decades of drumming with Latin dance music and jazz ensembles into this century.



In the early 1960s Paul Hawkins became the first African-American dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios.



Although Hawkins never released an album as a leader, he played congas on Ramsey Lewis' Ramsey Lewis at the Bohemian Caverns, sat in live locally with Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente, and played countless gigs with his own bands.



Paul Hawkins regularly played for school audiences and in DC's summer in the parks series.



In 1958 Paul Hawkins joined fellow dancer and bandleader Roland Kave in his group Los Diablos as a conga player.



Paul Hawkins left Kave's band and started leading his own bands in the '60s - first Los Tropicales and then Orquesta Siglo Viente. Hawkins' groups were modeled after the frenetic, percussion-led styles of Tito Puente and Machito, with Hawkins playing the timbales.



Paul Hawkins also began sitting in with Tito Puente when he came to DC including a 1996 tribute at the Smithsonian. Hawkins also sat in with another of his idols, Dizzy Gillespie. Until Dizzy's death Hawkins would play congas with him regularly when he came to town.



Paul Hawkins also toured with Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Mann, The Temptations, and Barry White. In 1967 he and his group opened for Jimi Hendrix at one of his shows at the Ambassador Theatre in Adams Morgan.



n the mid-'70s Paul Hawkins joined with acclaimed local sax player Buck Hill for the Afro-Cuban inspired group Speed Limit.



In the '90s Paul Hawkins formed a group called La Jazz that performed on and off until around 2009.



Even after two strokes in recent years, Paul Hawkins still wanted to play his drums. He died on February 9, 2014 of congestive heart failure in Myrtle Beach, SC. Paul Hawkins was 79.