Outside the Ellington Constellation: The 1950s and 1960s

The chapter discusses Johnny Hodges’s work apart from Ellington during the 1950s and 1960s. He made albums with pianist Billy Taylor, who went on to become a noted broadcaster and jazz educator; baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan; Coleman Hawkins; trumpeter Roy Eldridge; and in one instance television bandleader Lawrence Welk, a date for which Hodges received a fair amount of criticism, as if his participation in a recording session with a “sweet” band backed by a string section confirmed the complaints of some critics that Hodges’s style was overripe and sentimental. A defense is mounted against this charge on two grounds: first, that the album featured some of the best arrangers of the day, including Benny Carter; second, that an album with strings is a fairly common aspiration of many jazz musicians, who long for the respectability that is denied to their genre because of its disreputable origins.

The Small Groups

The chapter describes the small groups formed from Ellington’s orchestra. Hodges did not have a hit under his own name until Ellington was persuaded by Helen Oakley, a young jazz promoter and publicist, that he could release records by subgroups of his orchestra without tarnishing his own reputation. Hodges hit it big with “Jeep’s Blues,” which rang out from jukeboxes all over Harlem. Some of Hodges’s small-group numbers, including “The Jeep Is Jumping” and “Good Queen Bess,” named after his mother, are among his most memorable. The small-group sessions followed a pattern: a slow blues tune, two pop ballads, and a mid-tempo dance tune. They also kept Hodges connected to his roots in the blues and the black community from which he sprang, at a time when Ellington’s music was increasingly viewed as entertainment for whites and upper-class blacks.

The Partnership Begins

This chapter describes the early years of Hodges’s association with Duke Ellington beginning in 1928, when the band strove to play “jungle music” that would titillate white patrons of the segregated Cotton Club, where the group served as house band. Hodges’s seductive approach added a new dimension to the growls, hot rhythms, and strange harmonies that characterized Ellington’s early efforts; the warmth of his tone, his flatted “blue” notes and his plaintive phrasing brought an element of New Orleans to Ellington’s New York band that it had lacked after the brief tenure of Sidney Bechet ended. Noteworthy performances of the 1930s are described, including Hodges’s participation in Benny Goodman’s 1938 mixed-race concert at Carnegie Hall. Goodman and Ellington were rivals, and Ellington was upset that Goodman got to Carnegie Hall before he did and that Hodges showed an independent streak by participating.

Young Man With a Sax

The chapter describes Hodges’s musical household, along with his limited instruction on the piano and saxophone. He received instruction on the saxophone formally, from (among others) a student at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and informally, from other young men in his neighborhood, which came to be known as “Saxophonist Ghetto” because of the large number of musicians who played the instrument living there. Hodges’s youthful introduction to Sidney Bechet at a Boston burlesque show, at which he played a soprano sax, is described. The chapter recounts the saxophone’s history and its development in the jazz genre, as well as Hodges’s early public performances in the Boston area at a very young age. Hodges begins to develop a reputation both in Boston and throughout New England, and he eventually comes to the attention of Duke Ellington in a Boston nightclub.

A Sax Is Born

This chapter provides data regarding Cornelius Hodges’s birth and traces his family history to his grandparents’ generation. Confusion as to the exact spelling of his last name (“Hodges,” not “Hodge”) is resolved by reference to his birth certificate. Census records reveal that, contrary to prior accounts of his life, he had not one sister but three, all older. The change in his name from “Cornelius” to “Johnny” is discussed, along with the seven nicknames that he was given by colleagues. The chapter also details the history of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, neighborhood where he was born—Cambridgeport—and of the South End of Boston, to which the family would move when he was twelve, after a stop in North Cambridge that has been overlooked in prior accounts of his life.

Epilogue

A FINAL IMAGE of Johnny Hodges: He is in a hotel room in Toronto, on the road, along with a reporter and Otto Hardwick. It is night, but Hodges has drawn the curtains to block out the glare of the city. He removes the lights from the room’s lamps and replaces them with colored bulbs—yellow, red and blue. He sprinkles them with ...

The Rabbit Returns

The chapter discusses the return of Johnny Hodges to the Duke Ellington orchestra. He found himself out of place; new members with new ideas had been added to the orchestra, and his style was out of fashion. His return had to be viewed as an admission of defeat, but Charlie Parker had died earlier in the year, creating the opportunity for Hodges to make a comeback. Norman Granz soon recorded and released a number of small-group albums with Hodges as leader, but the general state of the Ellington organization was one of dejection, as it was reduced to playing an outdoor water show and then was given decidedly second billing at the Newport Jazz Festival. At the festival Paul Gonsalves played a marathon solo on Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, and Ellington’s fortunes were revived. Hodges’s return to prominence is detailed.

The Coming of Bird

The chapter discusses a new type of jazz that arrived beginning in the mid-1940s that came to be known as “bebop.” It was marked by new harmonies, staccato rhythms and—on the alto sax—a shift away from the smooth technique of Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, and Willie Smith to the revolutionary syntax and vocabulary of Charlie Parker. In 1944 DownBeat predicted that soon Parker would be ranked number two behind Johnny Hodges on the alto; this prediction proved to be too cautious, as Parker along with fellow innovators of bebop changed the jazz landscape. Today, Parker is generally ranked as the foremost alto player in jazz history. The boppers subordinated tone and feeling to speed, melodic invention, and harmonic complexity. By the end of the decade, Hodges’s music had begun to seem dated.

Blanton, Webster, and the Forties

The chapter describes developments in the Ellington band during the 1940s. In 1939 the band hired bassist Jimmie Blanton, and in 1940 tenor Ben Webster left Teddy Wilson’s band to join Duke. This was the beginning of what many feel was the Ellington band’s best years, and Hodges was part of its rising reputation, as he won the DownBeat fan poll for top alto for the first time, then continued to win it for the rest of the decade. Hodges served as model and inspiration for Webster, who would develop a more tender approach on the tenor that was based in large part on Hodges’s style. The Blanton-Webster period in the band’s history was short-lived, as Blanton died in 1942 and Webster was fired in 1943. Afterward, Hodges became the Ellington orchestra’s principal soloist on ballads, taking several solos for every one that any other musician played.

Outside the Ellington Constellation: The 1930s and 1940s

The chapter relates that although Johnny Hodges was primarily associated with Duke Ellington over the course of his career, he made some of his most famous recordings—sometimes under pseudonyms owing to contractual restrictions—with other bandleaders. Although Ellington was sometimes criticized for taking credit (and royalties) that should have been shared with others, he was generous in allowing his musicians to earn extra money by playing outside dates. Hodges’s work with pianist Teddy Wilson and a young Billie Holiday is described; these sessions introduced her to listeners and produced records that featured her singing when it was still fresh. Hodges and Wilson joined forces again behind singer Mildred Bailey. Hodges was included in a Lionel Hampton recording session that produced one of his most famous solos, “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” During the 1930s he would also record with Woody Herman and Earl Hines, among others.