JOHNNY HODGES: THREE CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (THE BLUES / IN A TENDER MOOD / JOHNNY HODGES AND HIS STRINGS PLAY THE PRETTIEST GERSHWIN) (2CD) AVID

AVID Jazz here presents four classic Johnny Hodges albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD.
“The Blues”…………For our second installment featuring classic Johnny Hodges’ albums we kick off with “Rabbit” and his Orchestra where he is joined by such luminaries as Ben Webster, Red Callender, Ray Brown, Lawrence Brown and Leroy Lovett. The Orchestra indeed has blues in mind during these dates from 1952 through 1954! “More of Johnny Hodges and His Orchestra”…………Jumping aboard to help “Rabbit” for more big band favourites are among others Louis Bellson, Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Hamilton and Harry Carney in a formation that in the words of Norman Granz in his original liner notes “comes closer to the Duke’s band…. since I had more members……together at one time on this date……….the great Duke “sound” is there in all its glory”. “In A Tender Mood”…………Johnny Hodges and His Orchestra in more recording dates from 1952. Joining up to the Orchestra this time we find among others Emmett Berry on trumpet, Al Sears and Flip Phillips on tenor, Jim Marshall on drums and J.C Heard on drums. As the title suggests here we find “Rabbit” in a tender mood, as he remarks in the original album liner notes after being asked what music hits him the most emotionally………”I think I feel my own music the most when it’s pretty and tender”. Asked when he liked to play it he replied…..”When I’m in a tender mood”. Listen for yourself and hear what the great man means! “Johnny Hodges & His Strings Play The Prettiest Gershwin”…………We conclude our quartet of classics with an album recorded in Stuttgart in 1958. Here we find Hodges with The Stuttgart Light Orchestra under the baton of Walter Rohrig and arranged by Russell Garcia in a date devoted to the music of George Gershwin. Ellington devotees may notice how Hodges succeeds in bridging the differences between Gershwin and the Duke. The results are some of the freshest and most sensitive treatments the Gershwin melodies have ever enjoyed!
All four albums have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest sound quality ever!

CD1
1-10: ‘The Blues’
1. Rosanne
2. Hodge-Podge
3. Jappa
4. Through For The Night
5. Sheik Of Araby
6. Latino
7. Johnny’s Blues
8. Indiana
9. Easy Going Bounce
10. Burgundy Walk
11-15: ‘More Of Johnny Hodges’
11. Ballad Medley: Autumn In New York / Sweet Lorraine / Time On My Hands / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / If You Were Mine / Poor Butterfly / All Of Me
12. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
13. Warm Valley
14. Madam Butterfly
15. Skokiaan
16. Used To Be Duke

CD2
1-10: ‘In A Tender Mood’
1. Who’s Excited
2. Sweepin’ The Blues Away
3. Standing Room Only
4. Below The Azores
5. Sweet Georgia Brown
6. Duke’s Blues
7. Tenderly
8. Tea For Two
9. What’s I’m Gotchere
10. Nothin’ Yet
11. Sweet As Bear Meat
12-23: ‘Johnny Hodges And His Strings Play The Prettiest Gershwin’
12. Love Is Here To Stay
13. Nice Work If You Can Get It
14. ‘S Wonderful
15. Summertime
16. Soon
17. But Not For Me
18. Somebody Loves Me
19. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
20. Someone To Watch Over Me
21. They All Laughed
22. The Man I Love
23. Oh, Lady Be Good