with some of his songs if you close your eyes and listen carefully it doesnt sound like a sax ..it sounds like a voice...pure music from a wind instrument
I have seen Hendrix ,The Beatles, The Who, John Lee Hooker, Beck, Clapton. Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones etc. But I would swap them all for a Duke Ellington Johnny Hodges Concert!
Oh yes. The tragedy is that the Who, Hendrix, The Beatles, et al could stay in the best hotel in town. For nearly all of his career, Duke and his band could not stay in the hotel where they were playing.
Even if it isn't as much of a crowd pleaser, the way players like Johnny Hodges and Paul Desmond play minimally but pick the right notes is simply amazing.
As someone who is more of a casual jazz listener, I would much rather listen to Johnny Hodges than someone like Charlie Parker. That's not to take anything away from Parker, but his style of playing is often advanced beyond my ability to appreciate. A lot of it just sounds like fast noise to to my uninitiated ear.
He looks like he could make a phone call, drive a car and cook a meal simultaneously while playing that thing out of the corner of his mouth, and not be remotely flustered or out of breath.
This exactly why I love listening these amazing jazz pioneers when I'm practicing with my Alto and tenor sax. Beautiful to listen. Thank You for the legacy left for us all to learn
My big regret that when I got to see Duke and his orchestra, Johnny had already passed as I loved his tone and interpretations. A Master. Paul Gonsalves was there, thankfully. A year after I saw Duke, both he and Gonsalves were gone. (Ten days apart.)
As a saxplayer, myself, I can only say I like, love & respect Johnny's ARTISTRY & ABILITIES. I would not compare him to any other player. They are all unique & wonderful in my book. 🤩🤠😎
It the variety and at times really beautfull tone colors that JH gets from his sax that make his music so rewarding to listen to There were times on this number where it even soundeď like a womans voice Exquisite Tones
O LENDÁRIO "JOHNNY HODGES" FOI UM DOS MAIS CÉLEBRES SAX ALTO DA HISTÓRIA!!! DUKE ELLINGTON POR SUA VEZ ESTAVA PARA O JAZZ ASSIM COMO LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN PARA A MÚSICA CLÁSSICA!!!
They just don't make em like this any more. Apart from his awesome natural ability, technically and most importantly, musically, there was the lyrical eloquence of the era which gave an unrepeatable sweetness to Johnny's plating. To try and copy this today would not only be a musical fraud but also futile: we are not those kind of people any more so we substitute melody and harmony with dazzling pyrotechnics and hope nobody notices our deficiency. Maybe things will change... and the music will return.
I hope you know Johnny copied this type of "vocabulary," in order to build "vocabulary" for soloing, you need to copy from other players. As a non-musician you wouldn't understand this. Creatively, it might be original, such as the altissimo he played in this song. But, if you study him, he has similar "licks" that he plays when he solos.
@@SuperGreenday22 wtf are you talking about ? Johnny Hodges copied no ' vocabulary ' . There was no such thing as jazz vocabulary before bebop , prior to that players were melodic improvisors . Johnny Hodges pretty much invented pre-bop alto sax .
@@pycrofteveryone learns from someone else, like it or not. Hodges himself said he was influenced and inspired by Sidney Bechet, and you can hear it too. That doesn’t mean everybody’s a copycat, it just means that real recognizes real.
Google up TheDuke Ellington Paris Concert 1963 ; Johnny Hodges does a bracket of 3 , ‘Sunny side of the Street, Star Crossed Lovers and ‘All of me’. that will knock your socks off !
Marvellous. But now, one of the world s leading talents on clarinet and sax is Martin Schmidt-Hahn. Take a look at his all of me. Let s hope, he will keep this kind of music alive !!
