BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Johnny Hodges

Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges in 1946, with Al Sears in background. Hodges is playing a Conn 6M
Background information
Birth name	John Cornelius Hodges
Also known as	"Rabbit" "Jeep"
Born	July 25, 1906
Origin	Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 11, 1970 (aged 63)
Genres	Swing Mainstream jazz
Occupations	Saxophonist Clarinetist
Instruments	Alto saxophone Soprano saxophone Clarinet
Years active	1924–1970
Associated acts	Duke Ellington Sidney Bechet Lucky Roberts Chick Webb
Notable instruments
Conn 6M Buescher 400 Vito LeBlanc Rationale

John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1906 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work withDuke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932 and 1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1946, when he was given the lead chair.^[1] He is considered one of the definitive alto saxophones players of the Big Band Era(alongside Benny Carter).^[2]

Hodges started playing with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Roberts and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival.

Biography

Early life

Hodges was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to John H. Hodges and Katie Swan Hodges, both originally from Virginia.^[3] Soon afterwards, the family moved to Hammond Street in Boston, where he grew up with baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, and saxophonists Charlie Holmes and Howard E. Johnson.^[3] His first instruments were drums and piano. While his mother was a skilled piano player, Hodges was mostly self-taught.^[3] Once he became good enough, he would play the piano at dances in private homes for eight dollars an evening.^[3] He had taken up the soprano saxophone by his teens. It was around this time that Hodges developed the nickname "Rabbit," which some people believe arose from his ability to win 100-yard dashes and outrun truant officers. In fact, Carney called him Rabbit because of his rabbit-like nibbling on lettuce and tomato sandwiches.^[3]

When Hodges was 14, he saw Sidney Bechet play in Jimmy Cooper's Black and White Revue in a Boston burlesque hall.^[4] Hodges' sister got to know Bechet, which gave him the inspiration to introduce himself and play "My Honey's Lovin Arms" for Bechet.^[3] Bechet was impressed with his skill and encouraged him to keep on playing. Hodges built a name for himself in the Boston area before moving to New York in 1924.^[3]

Duke Ellington

Hodges joined Duke Ellington's orchestra in November 1928. He was one of the prominent Ellington Band members who featured in Benny Goodman's legendary 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Goodman described Hodges as "by far the greatest man on alto sax that I ever heard."^[5] Charlie Parker called him "the Lily Pons of his instrument."^[6]

In performance: Hodges with Ellington, Frankfurt, Germany, 6 February 1965.

Ellington's practice of writing tunes specifically for members of his orchestra resulted in the Hodges specialties, "Confab with Rab", "Jeep's Blues", "Sultry Sunset", and "Hodge Podge". Other songs recorded by the Ellington Orchestra which prominently feature Hodges' smooth alto saxophone sound are "Magenta Haze", "Prelude to a Kiss", "Haupe" (from Anatomy of a Murder) – note also the "seductive" and hip-swaying “Flirtibird,” featuring the "irresistibly salacious tremor" by Hodges,^[7] "The Star-Crossed Lovers" from Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder suite, "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)", "Blood Count" and "Passion Flower".

He had a pure tone and economy of melody on both the blues and ballads that won him admiration from musicians of all eras and styles, from Ben Webster and John Coltrane, who both played with him when he had his own orchestra in the 1950's, to Lawrence Welk, who featured him in an album of standards. His highly individualistic playing style, which featured the use of a wide vibrato and much sliding between slurred notes, was frequently imitated. As evidenced by the Ellington compositions named after him, he earned the nicknamesJeep^[8] and Rabbit – according to Johnny Griffin because "he looked like a rabbit, no expression on his face while he's playing all this beautiful music."^[9] One can see / hear Johnny on the video "Duke Ellington Copenhagen (1965): Parts 1 & 2."

Saxophones

In the 1940's, Hodges played a Conn 6M (recognisable by its under slung neck) and later on a Buescher 400 (recognisable by its V-shaped bell-brace) alto saxophone. By the end of his career in the late 1960s, Hodges was playing a Vito LeBlanc Rationale alto (serial number 2551A), an instrument which was notable for its unusual key-mechanisms (providing various alternative fingerings) and tone-hole placement, which gave superior intonation. Fewer than 2,000 were ever made. Hodges' Vito saxophone was silver-plated and extensively engraved on the bell, bow, body and key-cups of the instrument.^[10]

Death

Hodges' last performances were at the Imperial Room in Toronto, less than a week before his May 11, 1970 death from a heart attack, suffered during a visit to the office of a dental surgeon. His last recordings are featured on the New Orleans Suite, which was only half-finished when he died.

In Ellington's eulogy of Hodges, he said, "Never the world's most highly animated showman or greatest stage personality, but a tone so beautiful it sometimes brought tears to the eyes—this was Johnny Hodges. This is Johnny Hodges."^[11]