trombone solos with rhythm accompaniment, and Wells’s seven choruses on ‘Dicky Wells Blues’ make up one of the great pieces of trombone improvisation on record. His sound introduces a sober gaiety into the instrument’s lugubrious temperament, and his vibrato and sudden shouting notes make every chorus fresh and surprising.
The disc opens with seven tracks with which Wells made his debut, with Lloyd Scott and Cecil Scott: lively if unexceptional New York jazz of the ’20s. It ends on a septet date for Signature, from 1943, with Coleman, Young and Larkins (playing the Basie role). They take ‘I Got Rhythm’ far too fast, but there’s compensation in the next three titles, with Dicky playing a beautiful slow introduction to ‘I’m Fer It Too’.
JOHNNY HODGES &
Known as ‘Rabbit’; born John Cornelius Hodge, 25 July 1907, Cambridge, Massachusetts; died 11 May 1970, New York City
Alto and soprano saxophones
Classic Solos 1928–1942
Topaz TPZ 1008
Hodges; Bunny Berigan, Freddy Jenkins, Bubber Miley, Ray Nance, Arthur Whetsol, Cootie Williams (t); Rex Stewart (c); Lawrence Brown, Joe ‘Tricky Sam’ Nanton, Juan Tizol (tb); Barney Bigard (cl, ts); Harry Carney (bs, as, cl); Otto Hardwick (as, bsx); Ben Webster (ts); Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson (p); Fred Guy (bj); Lawrence Lucie, Allan Reuss (g); Hayes Alvis, Jimmy Blanton, Wellman Braud, John Kirby, Grachan Moncur, Billy Taylor (b); Cozy Cole, Sonny Greer (d); Mildred Bailey (v). October 1928–July 1941.
Saxophonist John Dankworth said (1993): ‘There has never been a saxophone sound like it, but I think too much emphasis on the beauty of Hodges’ playing has taken away from the logic and intelligence of his solos. They don’t just sound good, they’re perfectly formed.’
There is probably no other voice in jazz more purely sensuous. Subtract Hodges’ solos from Duke Ellington’s recorded output and it shrinks disproportionately. He was a stalwart presence right from the Cotton Club Orchestra through the Webster–Blanton years and beyond. Sadly, perhaps, for all his pricklish dislike of sideman status in the Ellington orchestra, Hodges was a rather unassertive leader, and his own recordings under-represent his extraordinary qualities, which began to dim only with the onset of the ’60s, and were often cast in jump styles which sit strangely with the lyrical role he took on in the Ellington band.
He studied with Sidney Bechet and took his place in Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith’s group. In 1928, he joined Duke and remained for the next four decades. Influenced by Bechet, he played a good deal on soprano saxophone in the early days. It’s a rougher sound in some respects than he got later on the larger horn, but it has a plain-spoken directness that goes to the heart.
This Topaz disc – and a similar ASV package – does a fairly good job of compiling a representative profile of Hodges at this period. Oddly perhaps, they don’t overlap very much, which suggests that there is an alternative image of the younger man to the one painted here, which has him in plainer and more musicianly form. Topaz ignores things like the 1940 ‘Good Queen Bess’ and the slightly earlier ‘Warm Valley’, but material from the 1929 Cotton Club Orchestra is included, filling in an important gap in the transition from blues and jump to the lyrical majesty of later years. Still combining alto and soprano, he stands out strongly wherever featured and ‘Rent Party Blues’ is a key early showing.
& See also Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges (1964–1965; p. 301)
MCKINNEY’S COTTON PICKERS
Formed 1926; disbanded 1934
Group
Put It There / Cotton Picker’s Scat
Frog DGF 25 / 26
John Nesbitt, Langston Curl, Joe Smith, Leonard Davis, Sidney De Paris, George ‘Buddy’ Lee (t); Rex Stewart (c); Claude Jones, Ed Cuffee (tb); Don Redman, George Thomas (reeds, v); Milton Senior, Prince Robinson, Jimmy Dudley, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Ted McCord (reeds); Todd
The disc opens with seven tracks with which Wells made his debut, with Lloyd Scott and Cecil Scott: lively if unexceptional New York jazz of the ’20s. It ends on a septet date for Signature, from 1943, with Coleman, Young and Larkins (playing the Basie role). They take ‘I Got Rhythm’ far too fast, but there’s compensation in the next three titles, with Dicky playing a beautiful slow introduction to ‘I’m Fer It Too’.
JOHNNY HODGES &
Known as ‘Rabbit’; born John Cornelius Hodge, 25 July 1907, Cambridge, Massachusetts; died 11 May 1970, New York City
Alto and soprano saxophones
Classic Solos 1928–1942
Topaz TPZ 1008
Hodges; Bunny Berigan, Freddy Jenkins, Bubber Miley, Ray Nance, Arthur Whetsol, Cootie Williams (t); Rex Stewart (c); Lawrence Brown, Joe ‘Tricky Sam’ Nanton, Juan Tizol (tb); Barney Bigard (cl, ts); Harry Carney (bs, as, cl); Otto Hardwick (as, bsx); Ben Webster (ts); Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson (p); Fred Guy (bj); Lawrence Lucie, Allan Reuss (g); Hayes Alvis, Jimmy Blanton, Wellman Braud, John Kirby, Grachan Moncur, Billy Taylor (b); Cozy Cole, Sonny Greer (d); Mildred Bailey (v). October 1928–July 1941.
Saxophonist John Dankworth said (1993): ‘There has never been a saxophone sound like it, but I think too much emphasis on the beauty of Hodges’ playing has taken away from the logic and intelligence of his solos. They don’t just sound good, they’re perfectly formed.’
There is probably no other voice in jazz more purely sensuous. Subtract Hodges’ solos from Duke Ellington’s recorded output and it shrinks disproportionately. He was a stalwart presence right from the Cotton Club Orchestra through the Webster–Blanton years and beyond. Sadly, perhaps, for all his pricklish dislike of sideman status in the Ellington orchestra, Hodges was a rather unassertive leader, and his own recordings under-represent his extraordinary qualities, which began to dim only with the onset of the ’60s, and were often cast in jump styles which sit strangely with the lyrical role he took on in the Ellington band.
He studied with Sidney Bechet and took his place in Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith’s group. In 1928, he joined Duke and remained for the next four decades. Influenced by Bechet, he played a good deal on soprano saxophone in the early days. It’s a rougher sound in some respects than he got later on the larger horn, but it has a plain-spoken directness that goes to the heart.
This Topaz disc – and a similar ASV package – does a fairly good job of compiling a representative profile of Hodges at this period. Oddly perhaps, they don’t overlap very much, which suggests that there is an alternative image of the younger man to the one painted here, which has him in plainer and more musicianly form. Topaz ignores things like the 1940 ‘Good Queen Bess’ and the slightly earlier ‘Warm Valley’, but material from the 1929 Cotton Club Orchestra is included, filling in an important gap in the transition from blues and jump to the lyrical majesty of later years. Still combining alto and soprano, he stands out strongly wherever featured and ‘Rent Party Blues’ is a key early showing.
& See also Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges (1964–1965; p. 301)
MCKINNEY’S COTTON PICKERS
Formed 1926; disbanded 1934
Group
Put It There / Cotton Picker’s Scat
Frog DGF 25 / 26
John Nesbitt, Langston Curl, Joe Smith, Leonard Davis, Sidney De Paris, George ‘Buddy’ Lee (t); Rex Stewart (c); Claude Jones, Ed Cuffee (tb); Don Redman, George Thomas (reeds, v); Milton Senior, Prince Robinson, Jimmy Dudley, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Ted McCord (reeds); Todd
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