Masters of Jazz
Masters of Jazz
Customer Review: Master of the altosaxophone
It should come as no surprise that you could compile a first-class cd of Johnny Hodges’ work outside of Duke’s band (well, two tracks from 1943 and `49 have Hodges as the main soloist with the Ellington band). However, this one is not only first-class, it is overwhelmingly beautiful, no more, no less. Four tracks (approximately 1954) have him very much on-form with an anonymously-sounding Ohio trio, and six others (1961 and ‘64) with small cohorts of Ellingtonians in a well-known repertoire, while a seven-minute version of Mellotone from 1954 is also interesting by featuring a down-to-earth John Coltrane solo, more than a year before he joined Miles Davis.
The cd’s `piece de resistance’, however, are the six 1960-titles that reunite Hodges with Ben Webster. The two horns go beautifully together in some catchy Hodges-tunes, kicked along by Gus Johnson in a frisky mood. Actually, this session was also released on a long deleted Johnny Hodges Mosaic set, which had the songs titled correctly.
Alto playing doesn’t come more beautiful than this.
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