Jazz Duke and Johnny - Isfahan

[Mack]

I am always on the look out for that sax player who has "that sound" - the sound I have been striving for, whether I knew it or not. Johnny Hodges does not have it. But near as dammit. Mmm...

 

[rhysonsax]

Johnny Hodges has my favourite alto sound and I love his whole approach. Hard to see how it could be bettered and people who try to imitate him often sound corny.

Two other alto players with sounds in the same general area that I like are:

Marshall Royal (Count Basie's lead alto) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Royal

And see next post for the other !

Rhys

 

[rhysonsax]

Michael (Mike) Hashim (current alto and soprano player based in the US who should be much more widely known) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hashim

How do their sounds grab you ?

Rhys

 

[kevgermany]

Rhys, They all sound really different to me. I love Johnny Hodges low/middle notes. But not his higher ones. And Marshall Royal sounds good all the way through. Mike Hashim sounds like everything I dislike in altos..... ducky/nasal throughout the range.

Mind you I don't like the sound of Paul Desmond or Candy Dulfer, either.... Odd, cos I really like the alto solo on Baker Street.

Yours, mixed up from Munich..

 

[Young Col]

That version of Isfahan is, I am sure, from the late 1960s BBC Jazz625 TV series. and I saw it when it was first aired. The haunting theme stayed with me for years and when they showed the whole show again a few years back I put it on videotape. The show has also got a typical rumbustious solo from Paul Gonsalves on The Opener and a superb drum solo from Sam Woodyard on Skillipoop (from Ellington's Timon of Athens suite). Isfahan is from Ellington's Far East Suite and it has some lovely tone portraits of the Far East including a busy, bustling, Ad Lib on Nippon.

Another beautiful but more impassioned late Hodges solo (his last actually as he died a few days after recording) is on Blues for New Orleans from the New Orleans Suite.
YC

 

[Chris]

I know its not Hodges/Royal, but this so good http://youtu.be/Ct_EN18C2uI

Chris...

 

[rhysonsax]

Rhys, They all sound really different to me. I love Johnny Hodges low/middle notes. But not his higher ones. And Marshall Royal sounds good all the way through. Mike Hashim sounds like everything I dislike in altos..... ducky/nasal throughout the range.

Interesting ! I think that Hodges can sound quite "quacky" in the lower range on bluesy jump numbers, but in a good way.

For instance this track from the great album 'Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges':

Hodges' solo starts at about 1:30

Rhys

 

[rhysonsax]

Rhys, They all sound really different to me. I love Johnny Hodges low/middle notes. But not his higher ones. And Marshall Royal sounds good all the way through. Mike Hashim sounds like everything I dislike in altos..... ducky/nasal throughout the range.

Interesting ! I think that Hodges can sound quite "quacky" in the lower range on bluesy jump numbers, but in a good way.

For instance this track from the great album 'Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges':

Hodges' solo starts at about 1:30

Rhys

 

[kevgermany]

Darn, another 'Not in Germany' track.

 

[trimmy]

How did i miss this post been listening to Johny Hodges for the last hour.... wow !! what a tone, just love this song

I am always on the look out for that sax player who has "that sound" - the sound I have been striving for, whether I knew it or not. Johnny Hodges does not have it. But near as dammit. Mmm...

Mack he's got it

 

[Mack]

Thank you so much Trimmy - never heard that song before. Beautiful. Isn't the Cafe great? We should meet more often! Try this - in a way the opposite of Johnny Hodges - more detached cool, but they are both of the "less is more" school. A rare thing in jazz.

I started out on Coltrane but I am finding more and more that players like Johnny Hodges, Paul Desmond and Lester Young influence me more. As Branford Marsalis said recently "It's all about the melody".

Try looking for a Duke Ellington/Johnny Hodges record called "Back to Back - Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues" - or PM me and I'll send you a copy. Enjoy!

 

[rhysonsax]

Try looking for a Duke Ellington/Johnny Hodges record called "Back to Back - Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues" - or PM me and I'll send you a copy. Enjoy!

And the companion album "Side by Side" as well as the Hodges album I mentioned before "Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges". Also featuring Lawrence Brown who is a superb trombone player from the Ellington orchestra.

Rhys