Johnny Hodges

Still lost in the world of jazz saxophonists.  I've rediscovered Johnny Hodges.  Hodges was the powerhouse lead alto behind Duke Ellington's amazing big band.  Among the superfluous adjectives about his playing, I keep reading about his tone.  A big, lush, not-too-strident sound that was still nimble enough to get around the changes with ease.  Listening to recordings confirms the accolades.

Hodges played with Ellington's band for most of his career, with a brief attempt at leading his own band between February 1951 and October 1955.  At a time when sax players had decided that Bird (Charlie Parker) had done everything that could be done on an alto (and they therefore switched to tenor, hence the resulting deluge of tenor giants) Hodges was able to prove that Bird hadn't done everything (still, have you really listened to a Charlie Parker recording?  At times, it's otherworldly.) 

Parker had the lock on bebop, sheer technique, and playing a chord progression to within an inch of its life, but Hodges had soul.  I've been driving around lately with a recording of Johnny Hodges as soloist with Billy Strayhorn (Ellington's pianist/composer) and the orchestra.  Like Woody Herman or Count Basie, he doesn't play a lot of notes, but the notes he chooses are perfect.  Each phrase is exactly where it should be, and his tone is impeccable.

As a student, Hodges studied with Sidney Bechet (a saxophone great in his own right) beginning on a soprano saxophone.  The Bechet influence can sometimes be heard in Hodge's control of the flexibility of his sound.  He switched to alto in 1940, playing soprano occasionally until 1946, when he was given the lead chair in the Ellington band.  Benny Goodman was a fan of Hodges, using him, along with some other members of the Ellington band, for the legendary Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938. 

Some of his signature songs include Don't Get Around Much Anymore, and I Got it Bad (and That Ain't Good).  Ellington, in his eulogy for Hodges, 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."