Johnny Hodges

3 LPs On 2 CDs

Featuring: Roy Eldridge, Ray Nance, Emmett Berry (tp), Vic Dickenson, Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Billy Strayhorn, Leroy Lovett (p), Jimmy Woode, Wendell Marshall, Red Callender (b), Sam Woodyard, Jo Jones, Osie Johnson (d)

Includes a 16-page booklet with recording details, extensive notes and rare photos.

Johnny Hodges, the most distinctive and eloquent voice of the Duke Ellington boys, is the leader of these great 1958 sessions (without Duke), but with Billy Strayhorn, Duke’s alter ego on piano, and featuring such greats as Roy Eldridge and Ben Webster. Primarily noted for his ballads, Hodges could blow soft as a whisper or loud as a trumpet, but never forfeits his major concerns, excitement, taste and restraint, delivering pure quality with moving simplicity. “The warmest saxophonist of them all” is a frequently quoted and fulsome description of Johnny Hodges that has never, to anyone’s knowledge, been disputed.

Tracklisting:

CD 1
01. Blues a Plenty (3:23)
02. Cool Your Motor (3:37)
03. Gone with the Wind (3:18)
04. Honey Hill (4:03)
05. I Didn’t Know About You (3:32)
06. Satin Doll (5:01)
07. Reelin’ and Rockin’ (9:35)
08. Don’t Take Your Love from Me (3:39)
09. Saturday Afternoon Blues (5:59)
10. Just a Memory (5:52)
11. Let’s Fall in Love (6:46)
12. Big Shoe (5:33)
13. Ruint (2:32)
14. Bend One (2:58)
15. You Need to Rock (5:52)

CD 2
01. M.H.R (5:58)
02. Broadway Babe (2:43)
03. Three and Six (2:20)
04. Not so Dukish (7:51)
05. Central Park Swing (3:24)
06. Preacher Blues (8:22)
07. Jeep Bounced Back (3:35)
08. The Last Time I Saw Paris (2:53)
09. Rosanne (3:08) (*) Bonus Track
10. This Love of Mine (3:07) (*) Bonus Track
11. Hodge Podge (3:36) (*) Bonus Track
12. Jappa 3 (3:53) (*) Bonus Track
13. Through for the Night (3:18) (*) Bonus Track
14. Come Sunday (2:32) (*) Bonus Track
15. The Sheik of Araby (3:15) (*) Bonus Track
16. Latino (2:55) (*) Bonus Track
17. In a Mellow Tone (6:18) (*) Bonus Track
18. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (3:08) (*) Bonus Track
19. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (3:45) (*) Bonus Track

Total time: 148 min.


CD 1, tracks #1-9 from the album:
"Blues-a-Plenty" (Verve MGV-8358)

CD 1, tracks #10-15 from the album:
"Side By Side" (Verve MGV-8345)

CD 2, tracks #1-8 from the album:
"Not So Dukish" (Verve MGV-8355)

CD 2, tracks #9-19 are bonus tracks.

Personnel on "Blues-a-Plenty":
Roy Eldridge (tp), Vic Dickenson (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Billy Strayhorn (p), Jimmy Woode (b) and Sam Woodyard (d).
Recorded in New York City, on April 5, 1958.

Personnel on "Side By Side":
Roy Eldridge (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Billy Strayhorn (p), Jimmy Woode, Wendell Marshall (b) and Jo Jones (d). Recorded in New York City, on August 14, 1958.

Personnel on "Not So Dukish":
Roy Eldridge, Ray Nance (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Billy Strayhorn (p), Jimmy Woode (b) and Sam Woodyard (d). Recorded in New York City, on September 10, 1958.

(*) This set also contains, as a bonus, three of the most consistently rewarding small Hodges units featuring Ben Webster—recorded between 1952-1954 and roughly patterned after “Rabbit” Hodges’ classic combos of the ‘40s.

Personnel on tracks #9-12: Emmett Berry (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Leroy Lovett (p), Red Callender (b) and J.C. Heard (d). Al Hibbler (vcl on #10).
Recorded in Los Angeles, California, on July 22, 1952.

Personnel on tracks #13-16: Emmett Berry (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster, Rudy Williams (ts), Ted Brannon (p), Barney Richmond (b) and Al Walker (d).
Recorded in New York City, on December 11, 1952.

Personnel on tracks #17-19: Emmett Berry (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Ben Webster (ts), Leroy Lovett (p), Lloyd Trotman (b) and Osie Johnson (d). Recorded in New York City, on April 9, 1954.

Original recordings produced by Norman Granz.