Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges | |
---|---|
Conn 6M with Al Sears in background, 1946 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | John Cornelius Hodges |
Born | Cambridge, Massachusetts | July 25, 1907
Died | May 11, 1970 New York City | (aged 62)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | |
Years active | 1924–1970 |
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1946.[1] Along with Benny Carter, Hodges is considered to be one of the definitive alto saxophone players of the big band era.[2]
After beginning his career as a teenager in Boston, Hodges began to travel to New York and played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Luckey Roberts and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival.
Biography
Early life
Hodges was born in the Cambridgeport neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to John H. Hodges and Katie Swan Hodges, both originally from Virginia.[2] After moving for a short period of time to North Cambridge,[3] the family moved to Hammond Street in the South End of Boston, where he grew up with saxophonists Harry Carney (who would also become a long-term member of Duke Ellington’s big band), Charlie Holmes and Howard E. Johnson. His first instruments were drums and piano. While his mother was a skilled piano player, Hodges was mostly self-taught.[2]
Once he became good enough, he played the piano at dances in private homes for $8 an evening.[2] He had taken up the soprano saxophone by his teens. It was around this time that Hodges developed the nickname "Rabbit", which some people believe arose from his ability to win 100-yard dashes and outrun truant officers, while others, including Carney, said he was called by that name because of his rabbit-like nibbling on lettuce and tomato sandwiches.[2][3]
When Hodges was 14, he went with his eldest sister to see Sidney Bechet play in Jimmy Cooper's Black and White Revue in a Boston burlesque hall.[2] Hodges's eldest sister introduced him to Bechet, who asked him to play something on the soprano saxophone he had brought with him. Hodges played "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" for Bechet, who was impressed with his skill and encouraged him to keep on playing and would also give Hodges formal saxophone lessons. Hodges built a name for himself in the Boston area before moving to New York City in 1924.[2]
Duke Ellington
Hodges joined Duke Ellington's orchestra in November 1928. He was one of the prominent Ellington Band members who featured in Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Goodman described Hodges as "by far the greatest man on alto sax that I ever heard."[4] Charlie Parker called him "the Lily Pons of his instrument."[5] John Coltrane considered Hodges his first model on the saxophone, even calling him “the world's greatest saxophone player.”[citation needed]
Ellington's practice of writing tunes specifically for members of his orchestra resulted in the Hodges specialties, "Confab with Rab", "Jeep's Blues", "Sultry Sunset", and "Hodge Podge". Other songs recorded by the Ellington Orchestra which prominently feature Hodges's smooth alto saxophone sound are "Magenta Haze", "
He had a pure
Saxophones
In the 1940s, Hodges played a
Death
Hodges's last performances were at the Imperial Room in Toronto, less than a week before his May 11, 1970, death from a heart attack, suffered during a visit to the office of a dental surgeon. His last recordings are featured on the New Orleans Suite, which was only half-finished when he died. He was married twice; he had a daughter by his first wife, Bertha Pettiford, and a son (John C. Hodges II) and a daughter (Lorna Lee) by his second wife, Edith Cue.[10]
The loss of Hodges's sound prompted Ellington, upon learning of the musician's death from a heart attack, to lament to JET magazine: "The band will never sound the same without Johnny." In Ellington's eulogy of Hodges, he said: "Never the world's most highly animated showman or greatest stage personality, but a tone so beautiful it sometimes brought tears to the eyes—this was Johnny Hodges. This is Johnny Hodges."[11]
Discography
As leader or co-leader
- 1946: Passion Flower (RCA) with Willie Cook, Roy Eldridge, Quentin Jackson, Russell Procope, Ben Webster, Sam Woodyard
- 1951: Caravan (Prestige) with Taft Jordan, Harold Baker, Juan Tizol, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Oscar Pettiford, Sonny Greer
- 1951–52: Castle Rock (Norgran)
- 1952: In a Tender Mood (Norgran)
- 1952–54: The Blues (Norgran)
- 1951–54: More of Johnny Hodges (Norgran)
- 1951–54: Memories of Ellington (Norgran), also released as In a Mellow Tone
- 1954: Used to Be Duke (Norgran)
- 1952–55: Dance Bash (Norgran), also released as Perdido
- 1955: Creamy (Norgran)
- 1956: Ellingtonia '56 (Norgran)
- 1956: Duke's in Bed (Verve)
- 1957: The Big Sound (Verve)
- 1958: Blues A-Plenty (Verve)
- 1958: Not So Dukish (Verve)
- 1959: Johnny Hodges and His Strings Play the Prettiest Gershwin (Verve)
- 1959: Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues (Verve) with Duke Ellington
- 1959: Side by Side (Verve) with Duke Ellington
- 1960: A Smooth One (Verve)
- 1960: Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (Verve) with Gerry Mulligan
- 1961: Blue Hodge (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1961: Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra (Verve)
- 1961: Johnny Hodges at Sportpalast Berlin (Pablo) with Ray Nance, Lawrence Brown, Al Williams
- 1963: Buenos Aires Blues (Johnny Hodges Quintet with Lalo Schifrin on piano)
- 1963: Sandy's Gone (Verve)
- 1963: Mess of Blues (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1964: Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges (Impulse!)
- 1964: Blue Rabbit (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1965: RCA Victor) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1965: Joe's Blues (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1965: Wings & Things (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1965: Inspired Abandon (Impulse!) with Lawrence Brown
- 1966: Stride Right (Verve) with Earl Hines
- 1966: Blue Pyramid (Verve) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1966: Wild Bill Davis & Johnny Hodges in Atlantic City (RCA Victor) with Wild Bill Davis
- 1966: Blue Notes (Verve)
- 1967: Triple Play (RCA Victor)
- 1967: Don't Sleep in the Subway (Verve)
- 1967: Swing's Our Thing (Verve) with Earl Hines
- 1968: Rippin' & Runnin' (Verve)
- 1970: 3 Shades of Blue (Flying Dutchman) with Leon Thomas and Oliver Nelson
As sideman
- Hodges was not a member of Ellington's Orchestra before 1928, or during 1951–55, or after May 11, 1970, when Hodges died. Duke Ellington's earliest recordings date from 1924 and he died on May 24, 1974. The two men's discographies thus match almost exactly, bar exceptions listed above and in this section.
with Lawrence Brown
- Inspired Abandon (Impulse!, 1965) – billed as Lawrence Brown's All-Stars with Johnny Hodges
with Coleman Hawkins
- Hawkins! Eldridge! Hodges! Alive! At the Village Gate! (Verve, 1962)
with Joya Sherrill
- Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (20th Century Fox, 1965)
with Billy Strayhorn
- Cue for Saxophone (Felsted, 1959)
with Billy Taylor
- Taylor Made Jazz (Argo, 1959)
With Clark Terry
- Duke with a Difference (Riverside, 1957)
References
- All Media Network. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
- ^ ISSN 0266-8033.
- ^ ISBN 9780190653903.
- ASIN B000878B3S.
- ISBN 978-0813542829.
- ^ Stryker, Mark (January 20, 2009). "Ellington's score still celebrated". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- ^ "100 Jazz Profiles". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
- ^ Panken, Ted (April 18, 1990). "In Conversation with Johnny Griffin". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Hodges Vito Also". Doctor Sax. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
- ^ "Saxophonist Johnny Hodges Leaves $86,000 Estate To His Widow And Children". JET. December 28, 1972. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ISBN 0-306-80033-0.
External links
- Johnny Hodges discography at Discogs
- Johnny Hodges at IMDb
- Johnny Hodges at Find a Grave
- Johnny Hodges recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.