Johnny's Blues [Box set, Import]

This 4-CD set is Quadromania Jazz Edition #222443. German recording companies frequently produce the best remasterings of our great American jazz artists and I, for one, am grateful for the fine quality of their products. This is our 8th addition of a Quadromania jazz masters recording from Membran Music, Hamburg, Germany, chosen for two reasons: the high-density (24-bit) format, and because of previous good experiences with Membran's output. The sound is clean and level, and Hodges' smooth alto sax is right there in the room with you.
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1906 - May 11, 1970) made his name at a young age: he studied soprano sax under Sidney Bechet, and by 1928 at the age of 22, he was the lead sax player with the Duke Ellington orchestra, playing both alto and soprano sax. Ten years later (we're now talking about a still-young 32 year old man) Hodges was lead sax in the legendary 1938 Benny Goodman concert. Goodman proclaimed that Hodges was "the greatest man on alto sax I ever heard." His sudden death from a heart attack just short of his 64th birthday was an irrecoverable loss to the jazz world. There has been no equal since.
The tracks on this 4-cd set are from 1947-1953 Hodges recordings in New York, Paris, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. Most are sessions are of the Johnny Hodges All-Stars (with Billy Strayhorn on Piano), or of Johnny Hodges and His Orchestra (with Leroy Lovett and Ted Brannon on piano).
Two notable and very pleasing exceptions are:
(1) Tracks 6, 7 & 8 on Disc 3 (#'s 44, 45 & 46 in Amazon's listing) - A May 18, 1951 performance in Boston with the Billy Strayhorn All-Stars, of "Britt And Butter Blues", "Indian Summer " and "Swamp Drum".
(2) Track 9 on Disc 3 (# 47 in Amazon's list) - A June 19, 1951 performance in New York with the Duke Ellington All-Stars of "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid" .
The track list by Amazon is sequentially correct, although it is not divided amongst the 4 discs, where each disc index starts again at Track 1. Here's how the discs really play:
DISC 1:
1. Frisky
2. Longhorn Blues
3. A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing
4. Far Away Blues
5. How Could It Happen To A Dream
6. Who Struck John?
7. June's Jumpin'
8. Lotus Blossom
9. Violet Blue
10. Searsy's Blues
11. A Little Taste
12. Let The Zoomers Drool
13. Jump, That's All
14. Last Legs Blues Pt. 2
15. Nix It, Mix It
16. Time On My Hands
17. Night Walk
18. She
19. Happenning
20. Moonlight Fiesta
DISC 2:
1. Run About
2. Wishing And Waiting
3. Gat That Geet
4. That's Grand
5. Skip It
6. Perdido
7. Mood Indigo
8. In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree
9. Bean Bag Boogie
10. Sweet Lorraine
11. Hop, Skip And Jump
12. Rabbit's Blues
13. Something To Paid Your Foot For
14. Blue Fantasia
15. My Reward
16. Good Queen Bess
17. Jeep's Blues
18. Solitude
DISC 3:
1. Jeep Is Jumpin'
2. Castle Rock
3. Sophisticated Lady
4. Globe Trotter
5. A Gentle Breeze
6. Britt And Butter Blues
7. Indian Summer
8. Swamp Drum
9. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
1. Sideways
11. A Pound Of Blues
12. Wham
13. Who's Excited
14. Sweeping The Blues Away
15. Day Dream
16. Standing Room Only
17. Below The Azores
DISC 4:
1. Duke's Blues
2. Tenderly
3. Tea For Two
4. Sweet Georgia Brown
5. What I'm Gotchere
6. Nothin' Yet
7. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
8. This Is My Night To Love
9. Hodge Podge
10. This Love Of Mine
11. Jappa
12. Rosanne
13. Through For The Night
14. Come Sunday
15. Sheik Of Araby
16. Latino
17. Indiana
18. Johnny's Blues
19. Easy Going Bounce