DUKE ELLINGTON - ISFAHAN - played by Johnny Hodges

[@albiondi4078]

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

[@SaxJockey]

@ Al Biondi This performance is before my time, but I recognise Johnny Hodges as my Sax HERO. To have been present at a live concert such as this must have been truly memorable.

[@albiondi4078]

@@SaxJockey it is something i'll never forget

[@3340steve]

Thank you.

[@MichaelBB]

expressionist, no. Expressive, yes.

[@thomasmillott8061]

Not a comment on the great Johnny Hodges, but on the use of all-caps in the post. Please cut the BS. Noone is impressed.

[@jroc2201]

Haha, Duke holding the sheet, I love this stuff, beautiful music

[@joelgauthier9208]

Un son unique, une maîtrise parfaite de l'instrument et quelle inspiration ! Il a toujours été mon saxophoniste alto préféré. Et quelle puissance, quand il joue avec l'orchestre, l'égal d'une trompette. Il n'y a jamais de déchet avec lui, tout est parfait. Quelle que soit l'époque.

[@lawrencemuller8972]

The best live performance of this tune by Hodges and the Ellington band. A masterpiece.!

[@dennisn979]

My daughter played this in her high school jazz band back in 2005. She studied Johnny's interpretation and he was a great influence on her playing. Really nice to hear this great tune again.

[@3340steve]

The amount of unspoken communication between Ellington and Hodges is amazing.

[@EmiliaVancini]

☺

[@erickborling1302]

So many young musicians aspire to play fast, exciting, angry sounding jazz, but if a big band can keep accurate time together during slow tempi such as this (from the Far East Suite), it will be one of the apex experiences of any jazz musician's life. Strive for it. It will bubble up in your quarantine and keep you company the remainder of your days. Was there a single jazz musician in the entire world who had trouble saying "Black Lives Matter?" These men are my teachers... my heroes!

[@docsaxman]

You dig.

[@matthew7419]

Those guys are so chill. That tempo is amazing. Johnny just looks back a bit, and bam! right on the money. But, you know, no big deal. Duke is so funny, he's totally a pro music stand. Harry Carney is the best, he knows just when to come out.

[@PhilipVassallo]

O, Johnny Hodges, O! What soulfulness! This is sublime.

[@SaxJockey]

Thank goodness this live recording has been preserved for all to appreciate the wonder of Mr Johnny Hodges.

[@ber334]

"I don't know who he is..but he's so big duke Ellington is holding the music for him."

[@jamesturner3311]

Just One of the Greats !

[@muebrigetta]

YOU SHOULD FIND OUT -- Hodges was a giant, and so indeed was Harry Carney, whose baritone sax can be heard: this is a man you hardly appreciate if you don't have enough interest to check him up. as for "he's so big" actually that was a joke -- Hodges was a notoriously poor sight reader and whatever the joke was it was expressed by Duke holding up the sheet music, as I remember from having seen them around the time this was filmed...

[@MichaelBB]

are listeners aware that Hodges was a terrible music reader, and that duke is most likely doing this out of either jest or a tease?

[@jeepykay]

@@MichaelBB They are now, thanks to Robert Calder.

[@wesgibson5235]

@@muebrigetta Paul Gonsalves was huge too, the lead tenor player. Really ahead of his time improvisation wise; was a huge inspiration to Coltrane.

[@philpryor7524]

From Bach to Miles and everything in between, this arrangement, these players, this cultural continuum, this wonderful roster of knowing players, is sensational.

[@NedMcDonnellWSI-McDigital]

Beuatiful piece thanks. Loved the quip about the Duke being the most expensive music stand in history. Wish I had that job.

[@NedMcDonnellWSI-McDigital]

Ned McDigital In a very serene way, and in a deeper sense of the word, Strayhorn and Ellington heard each other; their collaboration stretches one beyond the senses. Like your additional thoughts about the sphere. Don't know what mentioning a drug addiction is supposed to do.

[@necessarydiva]

Silky smooth!! It doesn't get better.

[@charlesbarry971]

Duke Ellington and Count Basie, the two greatest orchestras.

[@reginaldlewis4236]

Man that's beautiful!

[@mrmcdonnell3328]

Truly stirs the soul. Helps me teach innovation (or throw ideas out there for the students to teach themselves). A million thank-yous are not enough.

[@allthingskenteroo]

Growing up in the 80's playing Alto Johnny was was my hero. Still is. He and Duke were not at all friendly but respected the professional advantages of tolerating each other's quirks.

[@barbonestreet]

The collaboration between the Duke and the Rabbit was astounding and presented some of the most beautiful music ever. It is well to remember than Rabbit went out on his own, couldn't make a living at it, and returned to Duke's band.

[@hremdldw]

If Edward and Johnny didn't get along so what it was one of the fruitful collaboration for over 30 years.Some of the most sinous saxosphone ever played,along with some of the greatest compostions ever written by Edward and Billy Strayhorn.

[@dangaynor]

This is from February 20, 1964. An earlier studio recording from July 18, 1963 is available on The Private Collection, Vol. 4 (Studio Sessions, New York 1963).

[@bee-fz5mz]

Daniel Gaynor Thank you!

[@Gracenotesmusic]

Johnny Hodges comes close to the emotional expression of vocalists.

[@Jae77]

He went pass the emotional expression possible by a vocalist*

[@earlbonie611]

As my saxophone teacher used to say, Johnny Hodges taught the world what the alto saxophone was supposed to sound like!

[@erickborling1302]

I feel like quibbling with you but... I'll just shut up and join the audience with you for another listen.

[@marileesteele1804]

Coleman Hawkins, too.

[@resnir]

@@erickborling1302 I think you speak for any listener when you say (between the lines) that he IS the zenith of emotional expression. 😄Thank you for posting this. Watching Duke Ellington hold his music rips your heart open! And the way the camera reveals what he's doing makes this a 3-act epic.

[@philpryor7524]

What a sublime piece, all beauty, imagination, tone. Hodges is without much comparison as an alto player on ballads of the Duke; the cultured density of Harry Carney.., so great.

[@philpryor7524]

May I add, what a piece of the rare beauties in jazz performance. We can all take heart, with the challenge of hearing this high class, to keep trying to get out more of our souls, more honesty, truth, perception, beauty, resolution...

[@JulieHeathers]

So LOVE this STRAYS' SONG !..... HONING my orig. Lyric & Arrangement.

[@tomlachmund2497]

thanks Bobby for sharing this beauty. have it on record, great to see Hodges & Ellington. Duke looks like he might cry at one moment. his piece Hodge's playing. so tender, moving.

[@051963mf]

Absolutely beautiful.

[@tallhorselover]

My guess is that some TV producer wanted to get Ellington in the same shot with Hodges and this was his idea. I would imagine that the strange smile on Duke's face reflected a certain awareness of how silly it was to hold a chart for Johnny Hodges (of all people).

[@pamelatrent9674]

I would agree with you. I was wondering what kind of dynamic was going on there that Hodges needed someone to hold the music for him? And most times he wasn't looking at it, LOL!

[@barnibusyenrab23]

Agreed.

[@dufasaurjoe2899]

@@pamelatrent9674 Hard to Know. It could be that Stray composed it really recently and he had to learn in for the show and he felt a bit more comfortable having a chart. Some players like having a chart. Look at Svatisloslav Richter - he liked having the music in front of him at some point in his life. Lots of Duke's music is like classical and that the parts are written down in the head- unlike someone Like Basie.

[@matthew7419]

The melody is really chromatic. It was written in '63, so it was probably new, and the chart was just insurance.

[@agnusize]

Maravilha! O band-leader/compositor do tema segurando a partitura para o solista!

[@JulieHeathers]

BEYOND BEAUTIFUL....!!!

[@joseaugustoschmittbuturini3787]

Tocar saxofone com a suavidade desse cara, tem que ter um controle muito bom da embocadura, que é fazer vibrar a palheta, normalmente de bambú, fazendo-a vibrar com suavidade, esse controle é muito difícil, somente "feras" conseguem isso. Parabéns é pouco.

[@kurtralske4026]

Rabbit is playing so beautifully that it looks like Duke is about to cry

[@stixkubwa]

Just wonderful.

[@hremdldw]

Don't know if Passion Flower ,Isfahan or Blood Count are my favorite Billy Strayhorn penned tunes for that matter Chelsa Bridge ,Johnny Come Lately Lush Life or Ellington Theme song Take The The A Train . Beyond genius . With one of greatest Alto Sax players ever "Lily Pons" Johnny Hodges .

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Perfect!

[@elizabethfreshour4828]

I actually like Johnny's stage presence. He is emoting profound depth and a sort of philosophical melancholy that's wise.

[@viggosimonsen]

Exactly! He is a study in Serenity and Royalty. Mesmerizing!

[@JazzMaestra]

I love this man!

[@josepmariafranch853]

Beuatiful

[@zvonimirtosic6171]

Ladies and gents, double embouchure and several years of study, and everyday play, and maybe one day you may bend notes and create such delightful phrases.

[@pamelatrent9674]

Ohhhhh....to be able to bend notes like that and stay in tune!

[@1rocknroy]

"double embouchure"??? And also play out the side of his mouth. Johnny Hodges, oh how great.

[@zvonimirtosic6171]

@@1rocknroy Johnny was playing with double embouchure to get excellent control of the airstream. Double embouchure means bending both lower and upper lip above teeth, to that the teeth never touch the reed nor the mouthpiece.

[@alaskavera]

Great, haunting jazz. . . . spare me from their personal lives .. . never connected.

[@gregorylyons3512]

+Vera Crews Jazz, in the soiled vernacular of a darker time, meant "fuck". As is does now and forever. But I salute you. Vale!

[@patriciagullickson9591]

Vera Crews ???? who cares !! really ...

[@erickborling1302]

Gregory Lyons INCORRECT! And also the least important factoid ever.

[@viggosimonsen]

His Tone Control is insane

[@vittoriocastelli2681]

At that time they always did the sheet music scene I saw it in Italy maybe twice

[@kevinoliverjr]

🔥🔥🔥

[@robertsearsmusic]

0:18 Beginning of Tune

[@geneclayton2393]

my lord, how does he bend those notes!

[@brötzmannsax]

This would have to be the Official Heaven House Band.

[@erickborling1302]

This is so fantastic! Including all the comments. See how at 3:19 Hodges peers over at the bari player (Harry Carney) who gets four seconds to dig into a choice altered scale riff, temporarily 'stealing' the scene.

[@andreaspaullocher452]

John Harle is also among my favorite saxophonists …

[@mikefactor4294]

This is how a sax should sound like

[@thomasnorman3838]

mike factor this is how I sex should sound...

[@saxpianotutorial7572]

someone has the transcription of this live version of Johnny Hodges for Alto Sax?

[@SaxJockey]

@Ricky No, but Curt at Saxsolos.com will transcribe it for you.

[@danmcbmusic]

Just legendary interpretation. Was Duke just being the showman here? How come Hodges hadn't seen the score when the others had? Who knows. Kinda makes it more fun though. Both their expressions are saying something ... Who knows what ...

[@pamelatrent9674]

I'm thinking the same thing. at one point, Duke kinda pouts his lips. Hodges rarely looks at the score. It was probably something someone else wanted. Beautiful piec e though. Just downloaded it from iTunes.

[@brenttrading2363]

Apparently the man who was hodges teacher made him play a single note for days untill he perfected every way a note can be played

[@jazzygiraffe8589]

That is almost certainly not true. Where did you get that info from?

[@brenttrading2363]

@@jazzygiraffe8589 the legendary Sidney Bechet was Hodges teacher when hodges was young .

[@jazzygiraffe8589]

@@brenttrading2363 I know that, but it wasn't until Hodges was playing in Bechet's band in New York - shortly before joining the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and at that time he was already and accomplished player - that Bechet taught Hodges. Before that he had only met him once in Boston and been "showin some tricks", as Hodges said in an interview, if I recall correctly. He surely would have mentioned this kind of advice in the interview. More importantly though, I play the saxophone myself, and developing your embochoure takes years of daily practice. Even being able to play all the notes in tune will take ages. So it is pretty much impossible, irregardless of how talented you are, to "perfect every way a note can be played" within a matter of days. Don't get me wrong, I like your story. But it has little to nothing to do with reality since Hodges unique and stylistic sound came from things like listening to Clarence Williams Blue five (which included Sidney Bechet) , travelling to New York to attend jam sessions, and, of course, lots of practice.

[@lukex1337]

@@brenttrading2363you just make up stories on the fly or?😂

[@mortweiss3151]

Dig Kitty La Roar's version of this with lyrics by Nick ShanKland ***** stars. M

[@JulieHeathers]

Is it on Ytube, Mort ?

[@djthemoretaiwan]

Ernie Shepard on bass

[@heartyblack]

Hah! Three good people gave this a thumbs down ! Goodness. Goodness. Goodness. Not good enough? Har.

[@jamesturner3311]

Some people's knowledge of tempo ,Harmony and improvisation just leaves room for learning

[@budway1942]

duke waits as do we...

[@johnmarkconnolly6414]

How good/cool do you have to be for Duke to hold your music??? LOL.

[@cementdriveway]

I believe this was the first time Johnny ever played this song. I heard he missed the flight, and thus the rehearsals and only had a chance to glance at the chart.

[@ber334]

that's why I think it was dukes way of embarrassing Hodges. It wouldn't of been the first time. Does anybody know why for sure ? Charley Young ?

[@Elvis-Pelvis03]

@@ber334 Didn't he play the solo on Far East Suite?

[@tellitlikeitis-rg4ny]

Webster and hodges thats all

[@CreamyBone]

I'm jello

[@pedroveas389]

There is no doubt that it is a good performance, but I like it much better when the soloist is replaced by a tenor sax!

[@erickborling1302]

Oh HELL NO! (chuckle). Give it a shot. Wouldn't this particular solo force you to choose either a too-high or too-low tessitura on the tenor?

[@guydecervens]

Da man love heroin

[@yoshy321]

So much heroin!

[@wbnr97.7]

Really? They didn't get along well?

[@erickborling1302]

So... yeah I too find it puzzling when two ...apparent greats have no affinity/love for each other. That's a mystery worth contemplating.