Blue Hodge [CD]

In hundreds of Duke Ellington compositions it was always Johnny Hodges's short solo one waited for. Plus the famous "Ellington Effect" was essentially Hodges's alto combined with Harry Carney's bass saxophone. Any doubts about Hodges value to Ellington was proven when Norman Granz persuaded Hodges he deserved more recognition - and he left for 5 years to lead his own combo. Hence Duke's Capitol label period produced only one great recording - "Satin Doll". When he returned and Ellington triumphed at Newport in 1956 they both went on to far greater things - together and apart.

At the risk of annoying other mainstream jazz enthusiasts Johnny Hodges remains the most perfect instrumentalist to come out of the 1930-70 big-band era. The unanswerable question is how any self-taught 22-year-old could instantly find a unique vibrato sound on a standard alto-saxophone? Forty years after his death he is still immediately recognisable (and inimitable) not only for his seductive sound but also an uncanny ability to create self-contained solo statements which often appear to be new "compositions" in their own right.

With such a large number of Hodges albums on CD the only problem is sorting out which are run-of-the-mill Hodges blowing sessions and which do him full justice - on both fast and slow numbers. Although he recorded under his own name in 1937 it was only when Norman Granz gave him full freedom in 1951 on his Verve label the modern hi-fi Hodges discography begins. By my count he inially made 18 American albums for Verve which by and large are all compromises. Either he's operating alongside his own small combo, an Ellingtonian-style big band or an irritating trumpeter like Harry Edison on "Back to Back" and "Side by Side".

The one enjoable exception (hinting at things to come) was a 1958 album playing 12 Gershwin tunes accompanied by a German string orchestra. Only released on CD by Japanese Verve. Thus extremely rare - fetching well over a $100 on Ebay - if you can find it.

Then in 1961 someone at Verve had the brilliant idea of combining Hodges's alto sax with a Hammond organ. A perfect marraige of 2 great soloists was born. After their first one - "Blue Hodge" - in the course of the next 5 years Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis made 7 more LP's. Hodges also started making much more ambitious solo albums. The generous Lonehill team who put these 5 nicely transferred Hodges/Davis CD's together adding many tracks from these LP's to bring each CD up to a full 79 minutes.

Although there's little doubt their Victor "Con-Soul & Sax" was their most satisfying LP one has to buy 2 CD's to hear it - and it's coupled with too many inferior bonus tracks and an uneven live recording. That's why to hear how Hodges and Wild Bill hit their stride right from the word go "Blue Hodge" is the essential CD to buy first. On this they mostly play their own compositions - not relying so much on "standards". An additional blessing is you get much more solo Hodges. On several later albums Hodges felt obliged to share the limelight with his buddy Lawrence Brown.

One minor irritant is the sleeve note compiler cannot accept the beautifully languid third track "Azure Te" was composed by Davis - and is not Ellington's "Azure". Another error can be blamed on Stanley Dance's original liner notes to ""Blue Notes" - repeated on the disc's label. He describes one tune as being "The Midnight Sun Will Never Set" by Quincy Jones. It is in fact the much more memorable "Midnight Sun" by Lionel Hampton with the most tenuous lyrics ever set to music by Johnny Mercer.

I'm not sure why Amazon do not list all the great bonus tracks Lonehill used to fill this CD. Some of them are even more illuminating as to Hodges's unlimited talent. To hear Hodges trading hot-blooded solos with a raunchy harmonica player making it clear (at the age of 60) there was no blues domain he could not master. One has to wonder if the reviewer who described this CD (and another one) with the all-embracing epithet "lovely music" is not being rather demeaning to the timeless originality and variety of expression the great Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis could conjure out of a mere 2 instruments? No other jazz partnership has ever come close. Just as exciting today as when I first heard this LP in the early 70's when working for the DOE in Croydon's Whitgift Centre.

This, the fourth and final volume of the Lone Hill reissue series of the Johnny Hodges/Wild Bill Davis sessions, contains the complete 'Blue Hodge' album recorded for Verve in 1961. This is a very enjoyable session with both Hodges and Wild Bill in excellent form throughout. The tunes are a mixture of standards, originals, and Ellingtonia. Blue Hodge, There is No Greater Love, and Hodge Podge are outstanding but the the other tracks almost as as good. As the years pass, it is becoming more clear that the partnership between Hodges and Wild Bill Davis was one of the most rewarding of the 1960's and this album, the first to be recorded, is one of their finest.

This disc continues with six tracks from 'Blue Rabbit' - the rest of the album is on volume 3 of the Lone Hill collection - and are thoroughly enjoyable with Satin Doll and Blues O'Mighty being outstanding.

This final volume is completed with the four tracks from 'Blue Notes' - the rest are on Volume 1 of this series - with Hank Jones on piano replacing Wild Bill Davis. Once again this is fine music with all tracks being thoroughly enjoyable.

The sound quality is excellent this volume can be highly recommended - as indeed can the whole series. Great mainstream!