CD1
1. Squatty Roo
2. Passion Flower
3. Things Ain't What They Used To Be (Time's
A-Wastin')
4. Goin' Out the Back Way
5. You're Driving Me Crazy
6. Who Struck John?
7. Violet Blue
8. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Passion)
9. Frisky
10. Lotus Blossom
11. Time On My Hands
12. Wishing and Waiting
13. Rendez-vous at the Hot Club (Bean Bag Boogie)
14. Sweet Lorraine
15. You Blew Out The Flame in my Heart (Rabbit's
Blues)
16. Something To Pat Your Foot To
17. My Reward
18. Good Queen Bess
19. Jeep's Blues
20. The Jeep is Jumpin'
21. Solitude
22. Castle Rock
23. Sophisticated Lady
24. Globetrotter
25. A Gentle Breeze
CD2
1. A Pound of Blues
2. Wham
3. Who's Excited?
4. Day Dream
5. Standing Room Only
6. Tenderly
7. Tea For Two
8. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
9. Hodge Podge
10. Through for the Night
11. Come Sunday
12. The Sheik of Araby
13. In a Mellotone
14. I Let a Song Go out of My Heart
15. Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Never No
Lament)
16. On The Sunny Side of the Street
17. Sweet as Bear Meat
18. Warm Valley
19. All Of Me
20. Mood Indigo
21. Perdido
Johnny Hodges – Alto sax, soprano sax,
with his Orchestra, Trio, and All Stars
When
I saw the Duke Ellington Orchestra playing
in London many years ago, the saxophone section
was a dream team, including Paul Gonsalves,
Russell Procope and Harry Carney. But one
figure in the middle of the section caught
one’s attention: a short, unsmiling man who
looked as if he didn’t want to be there at
all. Yet when he played a solo, the most heavenly
music emerged from his alto sax. It was Johnny
Hodges - a member of the Ellington ensemble
for nearly 40 years and one of its brightest
stars. Like many Ellington alumni, Hodges
recorded a lot of small-group sessions, often
using other members of Duke’s orchestra. Although
theoretically these sessions were led by Hodges,
he played many tunes written by Ellington,
Billy Strayhorn or other Ducal associates,
as well as plenty of original compositions
of his own.
Hodges
was born in 1907 and this double CD celebrates
his centenary with a selection of tracks recorded
between 1941 and 1955. It’s a generous collection,
containing 46 mono recordings comprising 154
minutes of splendid jazz. This makes it good
value at mid-price, although it partly overlaps
with a fuller four-CD collection of recordings
from 1937 to 1952 issued in 2003 by Proper
Records (with the same title) and containing
94 tracks for the cost of one full-price CD.
Either collection would provide a useful introduction
to Hodges’ small-group work.
The
album opens brilliantly – with Squatty
Roo, a catchy up-tempo tune driven along
by Jimmy Blanton’s sturdy bass and featuring
the first of many fine solos from Johnny Hodges.
Passion Flower shows another side of
Hodges, as his alto sounds deeply emotional
and sad in this Billy Strayhorn composition.
Hodges could make the alto sax swoop and soar
with glissandi that glided smoothly upwards
and added to his ability to communicate feeling.
The pianist on the first four tracks is Duke
Ellington himself, although he only takes
a solo on Goin’ Out the Back Way –
another track which owes a lot to the propulsion
of the Jimmy Blanton double bass.
Hodges’
emotional power is again evident on You’re
Driving Me Crazy, taken at a considerably
slower tempo than usual and backed only by
the piano and bass of Jimmy Jones and Billy
Taylor. Billy Strayhorn is the pianist on
the next five tracks, three of which are Strayhorn
compositions. All three allow Hodges to rhapsodise
romantically, with A Flower is a Lovesome
Thing outstanding for its beautiful melody.
Frisky is a cheerful tune on which
Johnny sounds as if he’s playing the soprano
sax – at least, his phrasing is reminiscent
of Sidney Bechet, one of his great influences.
Tracks
11 to 14 on the first CD were recorded in
1950 by Charles Delaunay when the Ellington
band was in Paris, with Jimmy Hamilton’s clarinet
contrasting nicely with the Hodges alto. The
remaining tracks on this CD were recorded
in New York in 1951 by the band which Hodges
formed when he left the Ellington orchestra.
They feature not only some more wondrous work
by Johnny Hodges but also sterling contributions
from Emmett Berry (a trumpeter with a natural
spring in his step) and trombonist Lawrence
Brown. Brown was a lovely player, producing
an immediately recognisable tone which was
mellow without ever being bland.
The
second CD consists entirely of recordings
by Johnny’s own small group, which stayed
together until 1955. The personnels vary but
the strongest contributors include Lawrence
Brown, Emmett Berry and several tenorists,
including Ben Webster, Al Sears and even John
Coltrane (although this latter is only heard
in Sweet as Bear Meat). Ben Webster
is a particular asset. He perks up Hodge
Podge with a honking eight-bar solo and
floats easily through In a Mellotone.
Webster had already established his credentials
with Ellington on such classic tunes as Cottontail
but the recordings here mark his transition
into the more breathy style which was his
hallmark later on. However, the main spotlight
is still on Johnny Hodges, whose playing sounds
effortless but is actually the result of years
of dedication. Like Lawrence Brown and several
other long-serving members of the Ellington
band, Hodges tends to get overlooked because
he played in one ensemble for so long, but
he truly was a peerless musician.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Living
Era CD AJS 2021
