Johnny Hodges - A Short Playlist

Yesterday I reviewed Con Chapman's excellent new biography of Johnny Hodges, Rabbit Blues. Today I thought it would be useful to present a small selection of his music to complement this book. One example is slow bluesy playing on I Got It Bad and that Ain´t Good, with Duke Ellington.

Hodges made so many classics with Duke Ellington from the twenties until his passing and one of my favorites is Rockabye River, as much as for the orchestration as Hodges' blues-infused solo.

There was something magical when Hodges recorded some of Billy Strayhorn's compositions. This performance of Ishafan is from the time Hodges had left Ellington and was on his own.

During his period touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norman Granz got him in the studio with Benny Carter and Charlie Parker. The blues provided a common ground and the three along with Ben Webster, Charlie Shavers and others can be heard on Funky Blues. Hodges solos first, then Parker and then Carter.

We continue with Come Sunday from Duke Ellington's First Concert of Sacred Music.

We close this brief playlist with a Johnny Hodges medley from Duke Ellington's 1947 Carnegie Hall Concert.