Three of the main groups he has led or co-led are the Alexander Hawkins Ensemble; the Convergence Quartet (with Taylor Ho Bynum, Harris Eisenstadt, and Dominic Lash); and the Hammond organ-based Decoy (with John Edwards and Steve Noble).

[3] After returning to Oxford from university, Hawkins played regularly with bassist Dominic Lash and saxophonist Pete McPhail.

[3] Their third album, Slow and Steady, was appraised by a Down Beat reviewer: "Genre, personal style, consent and dissent are all grist for the mill, and the music is best appreciated by considering how these vectors move the proceedings along.

[3] The trio – Hawkins, Noble and bassist John Edwards[7] – played one initial session for Bo'Weavil, which was released as different material on LP and on CD.

[3] The original Ensemble, formed in late 2007,[5] contained guitar, cello, double bass, steel pan or marimba, and so stressed contrasts of tone colours at similar pitches.

[3] The change was made because members of the original group had to move and Hawkins preferred to compose with specific musicians, rather than instrumentations, in mind.

[...] Opening melodies provide structure, especially when modulated to different keys, and there are spiky riffs, swooping arpeggios and a bundle of jazzy references.

"[17] The Daily Telegraph's Ivan Hewett described Hawkins' playing in a trio as containing a tension between composition and improvisation and several forms of expression: "from radiant innocence to turbid chromaticism not so far from Viennese classical music at the turn of the last century.

He can tease away at a mere handful of intervals for minutes at a stretch, [...] then, just when you think you've got Hawkins pinned down as a quasi-classical pianist, he'll break into a playful Monk-like bebop figure.

Even the clustered chords and wheezy shimmers [...] have the attack and articulation of piano", and that Hawkins was "The most interesting Hammond player of the last decade and more, he has already extended what can be done on the instrument and how far 'out' it can be pushed".