The Complete Johnny Hodges Sessions. - sound recording reviews

National Review, Sept 1, 1989 by Ralph de Toledano

Precious little jazz has come my way in the past months, but a reissue on LP by Mosaic Records (35 Melrose Place, Stamford, Conn. 06902) makes up for the drought. I refer to The Complete Johnny Hodges Sessions 1951-1955. Hodges began recording in the early 1920s with King Oliver, but most of his career was with Duke Ellington.

In the 1950s, he formed his own recording band, but the Ellington influence remained in his arrangements and general atmosphere, in part because of the men from Duke's orchestra he took into the studio with him. His major influences, we are told, were Louis Armstrong and that greatest of reed men, Sidney Bechet-but he was always his own man and the finest soloist on alto the jazz world has known-with a beauty of tone and an elegance which, combined with the earthiness of the blues, made him unique. In this six-record album (MRG-126, $54) Hodges runs through a repertory of Ellingtonia, his own melodies, and the jazz standards with verve and grace and superlative imagination. This is one of the great jazz collections, which belongs alongside the other greats that Mosaic has produced.