01. Blues For Madeleine
02. When I’m Feelin’ Kinda Blue
03. Pyramid
04. Nonchalance
05. At Dawn
06. The Brown-Skin Gal In The Calico Gown
07. Stormy Weather
08. Rabbit Out Of The Hat
09. Hash Brown
10. Bunny (bonus)
11. What’s The Rush (bonus)
12. Back Beat (bonus)
13. What It’s All About (bonus)
14. 18 Carrots For Rabbit (bonus)
15. Shady Side (bonus)

Johnny Hodges 	- Sax (Alto)
Wild Bill Davis – Organ
Jimmy Hamilton – Clarinet
Billy Butler – Guitar
Jimmy Jones – Piano
Lawrence Brown – Trombone
Bob Bushnell – Bass
Herbie Lovelle, Joe Marshall, Johnny Hodges Jr. - Drums

On this collaboration between altoist Johnny Hodges and organist Wild Bill Davis, they are joined by trombonist Lawrence Brown, clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton, guitarist Billy Butler, electric bassist Bob Bushnell, either Herbie Lovelle, Joe Marshall or Johnny Hodges, Jr. on drums and, on the organless "At Dawn," apianist Jimmy Jones. Although the blues feeling (as pointed out in the liner notes) is emphasized throughout the date, many of the songs, including "The Brown Skin Gal in the Calico Gown" and "Stormy Weather," are not really blues, but only bluesy. Overall this is a fine outing, but this LP has been out of print for a couple of decades. ---Scott Yanow, Rovi

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1. Mountain Air
2. Sumpin' Jumpin' Round Here
3. After Hours on Dream Street
4. Chili con Carney
5. Key Largo
6. You're Driving Me Crazy
7. Why Was I Born?
8. Triple Play
9. Who Struck John?
10. It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream
11. June's Jumpin'
12. Violet Blue
13. Flower Is a Lovesome Thing
14. Frisky
15. Longhorn Blues
16. Far Away Blues
17. Searsy's Blues
18. Little Taste
19. Let the Zoomers Drool
20. Charlotte Russe
21. St. Germain-des-Pres Blues
22. Good to the Last Drop
23. Only Wish I Knew
24. We Fooled You

Johnny Hodges (alto sax)
Don Byas (tenor sax)
Billy Strayhorn (piano)
Al Sears (tenor sax)
Taft Jordan (trumpet)
Harry Carney (baritone sax)
Raymond Fol (piano)
Oscar Pettiford (bass)
Billy Taylor, Sr. (bass)
Shelly Manne (drums)

John Cornelius Hodges began working with Duke Ellington in 1928 and soon became one of the prime voices in the Ellington orchestra. Hodges began leading his own recording ensembles -- actually scaled-down versions of Duke's band -- in 1937. Occasionally sitting in with other leaders like Lionel Hampton, Hodges also led groups of his own, including a quartet at New York's Apollo Club during the summer of 1948 and five of the six bands heard on this first volume of his complete recordings in chronological order. (All records issued under Hodges' name prior to 1947 have been included in the massive Classics chronology of Duke Ellington.) Sandy Williams' Big Eight was one of many ensembles recording for the Hot Record Society -- and one of the very best of them. "Mountain Air" and "After Hours on Dream Street" are slow, smooth, languid, and lovely, with Hodges playing pretty for the people. "Sumpin' Jumpin' Round Here" is a smart strut with a hint of Latin American rhythm built into its caboose. Harry Carney, who fortunately appears on fully half of the recordings reissued here, does some friendly nudging with his horn on this pleasantly stimulating dance tune. "Chili con Carney" is a light bounce honoring the baritone saxophonist without granting him any more solo space than a couple of brief breaks. The next four selections appeared on the small and ephemeral Wax label in 1947. Carney is roundly featured on Jerome Kern's moody existential opus "Why Was I Born?," and Hodges softly interprets Walter Donaldson's "You're Driving Me Crazy" in what must be one of the slowest and most gentle versions of this song ever recorded. "Key Largo" carries a whiff of the Caribbean in its dulcet tones and lapping rhythm. Billy Strayhorn's "Triple Play" is marvelously cool mood music, elegantly rendered by a quintet with the composer at the piano. When Hodges recorded for the Mercer and Sunrise labels, he included longtime Ellington trombonist Lawrence Brown, Chick Webb's star trumpeter Taft Jordan, up-and-coming tenor saxophonist Al Sears, and a rhythm section of Billy Strayhorn, Oscar Pettiford, and trombonist Wilbur DeParis sitting in on the drums! Each performance is a delight. "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing" is the classic Strayhorn/Hodges still life. "Longhorn Blues" and "Faraway Blues" both feel like close cousins to "Jeep's Blues." On the second Mercer session Harry Carney replaces Brown, Harold "Shorty" Baker is the trumpeter, and Sonny Greer does wonderful things with the drums. Anyone who wants to hear Strayhorn cook a little on the piano should check out the groove track "Searsy's Blues," which is somewhat of an advanced approach to a boogie. Its tempo reappears exactly on "Let the Zoomers Drool" -- a "zoomer" being hip vernacular for a mooch. Years later, Dave Frishberg liked "A Little Taste" so much that he composed some of his funniest lyrics based on its nonchalant contours. This satisfying CD ends with the first of Hodges' Parisian sessions from 1950, with Raymond Fol sitting in with a pack of Ellingtonians when Duke declined to participate for contractual reasons. These tracks are notable for the presence of trombone ace Quentin "Butter" Jackson and voluntary expatriate tenor saxophonist Don Byas, who blows a splintering run during the crackling strut "We Fooled You." ---arwulf arwulf, AllMusic Review

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A1 	Who's Excited
A2 	Sweepin' The Blues Away
A3 	Standing Room Only
A4 	Below The Azores
A5 	Sweet Georgia Brown
B1 	Duke's Blues
B2 	Tenderly
B3 	Tea For Two
B4 	What's I'm Gotchere
B5 	Nothin' Yet

Alto Saxophone – Johnny Hodges
Bass – Ray Brown
Drums - J. C. Heard, Joe Marshall 
Piano – Leroy Lovett
Tenor Saxophone – Flip Phillips
Trombone – Lawrence Brown 
Trumpet - Emmett Berry

After 23 years with Duke Ellington's Orchestra, saxophonist Johnny Cornelius Hodges started his own band in March 1951. The band lasted until September 1955, when Johnny Hodges returned to his place as leader of the Duke's reed section and participated in one of the many revivals of the history of the best big bands in the history of jazz. ---discogs.com

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A1 	Caution Blues (Blues In 3rds) 	2:53
A2 	Stride Right 	2:55
A3 	Rosetta 	3:34
A4 	Perdido 	5:06
A5 	Fantastic-That's You 	2:52
B1 	Tale Of The Fox 	4:26
B2 	I'm Beginning To See The Light 	2:55
B3 	C Jam Blues 	5:05
B4 	Tippin' In 	3:07

Alto Saxophone – Johnny Hodges
Bass – Richard Davis
Drums – Joe Marshall
Guitar – Kenny Burrell
Piano, Organ – Earl Hines 

Hodges and Hines plus Kenny Burrell (guitar) Richard Davis (Bass) and Joe Marshall (Drums), recorded by Rudy van Gelder in 1966. It doesn't get much better! I had this as a record, and as I moved my collection onto digital, I was very, very happy to see this reissue.

It's hard to know where to start. Both these men, 60 or 61 when they got together for this record, are light, soaring, swinging players, and here the rhythm section with occasional solos from Burrell supports them beautifully.

Hodges, with his sound so well known from Ellington records just floats, or rather flies over the top of the piano and rhythm section, occasionally touching down for some more bounce.

And Hines, virtuoso pianist, and leader and cradler of bebop, was somewhat lost in the crowd of pianists who emerged from bop and hard bop, and because he played in what could superficially written off as stride piano. But it was much more than that. His complex left hand was orchestral, and his "trumpet" style right hand was inventive and percussive.

The result is a record that should be in any collection broad enough to encompass post world war 2 jazz. These two men obviously fired off one another and the result is a record still fresh 50 years after it was recorded. ---Warner Dakin, amazon.com

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