Editing Johnny Hodges (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
John Cornelius Hodges was born in the Cambridgeport neighborhood of [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], to John H. Hodges and Katie Swan Hodges, both originally from [[Virginia]].<ref name="Memory Lane" /> After moving for a short period of time to North Cambridge,<ref name=chapman/> the family moved to Hammond Street in the South End of [[Boston]], where he grew up with saxophonists [[Harry Carney]] (who would also become a long-term member of Duke Ellington’s big band), [[Charlie Holmes]] and [[Howard E. Johnson]]. His first instruments were drums and piano. While his mother was a skilled piano player, Hodges was mostly [[Autodidacticism|self-taught]].<ref name="Memory Lane" />

Once he became good enough, he played the piano at dances in private homes for $8 an evening.<ref name="Memory Lane" /> He had taken up the [[soprano saxophone]] by his teens. It was around this time that Hodges developed the nickname "Rabbit", which some people believe arose from his ability to win 100-yard dashes and outrun truant officers, while others, including Carney, said he was called by that name because of his rabbit-like nibbling on lettuce and tomato sandwiches.<ref name="Memory Lane" /><ref name=chapman>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6CgDwAAQBAJ|title=Rabbit's Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190653903|location=Oxford, New York|first=Con|last=Chapman|date=September 2, 2019}}</ref>

When Hodges was 14, he went with his eldest sister to see [[Sidney Bechet]] play in Jimmy Cooper's ''Black and White Revue'' in a Boston burlesque hall.<ref name="Memory Lane" /> Hodges's eldest sister introduced him to Bechet, who asked him to play something on the soprano saxophone he had brought with him.  Hodges played "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" for Bechet, who was impressed with his skill and encouraged him to keep on playing and would also give Hodges formal saxophone lessons. Hodges built a name for himself in the Boston area before moving to [[New York City]] in 1924.<ref name="Memory Lane" />

===Duke Ellington===
Hodges joined Duke Ellington's orchestra in November 1928. He was one of the prominent Ellington Band members who featured in [[Benny Goodman]]'s 1938 [[The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert|Carnegie Hall concert]]. Goodman described Hodges as "by far the greatest man on alto sax that I ever heard."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Kingdom of Swing |url=https://archive.org/details/kingdomofswing00good |url-access=registration |last1=Goodman |first1=Benny |author-link1=Benny Goodman |last2=Kolodin |first2=Irving |author-link2=Irving Kolodin |year=1939 |publisher=Stackpole Sons |page=[https://archive.org/details/kingdomofswing00good/page/231 231] |asin=B000878B3S}}</ref>  [[Charlie Parker]] called him "the [[Lily Pons]] of his instrument."<ref>{{cite book |title=Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56 |last=Morton |first=John Fass |author-link=John Morton (actor) |year=2008 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |isbn=978-0813542829 |page=31 |url={{Google books|MaHTQu65gzcC|page=31|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> [[John Coltrane]] considered Hodges his first model on the saxophone, even calling him “the world's greatest saxophone player.”<ref name="best jazz saxophonists">{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Geoffrey | title=Ranked: best jazz saxophonists of all time | website=Classical Music - Brought to you by BBC Music Magazine | date=20 June 2024 | url=https://www.classical-music.com/features/jazz/greatest-jazz-saxophonists-ever | access-date=25 July 2024}}</ref>
[[File:Johnny Hodges edit.jpg|thumb|left|In performance: Hodges with Ellington, Frankfurt, Germany, February 6, 1965.]]
Ellington's practice of writing tunes specifically for members of his orchestra resulted in the Hodges specialties, "Confab with Rab", "Jeep's Blues", "Sultry Sunset", and "Hodge Podge". Other songs recorded by the Ellington Orchestra which prominently feature Hodges's smooth alto saxophone sound are "Magenta Haze", "[[Prelude to a Kiss (song)|Prelude to a Kiss]]", "Haupe" (from ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'') – also notable are the "seductive" and hip-swaying "Flirtibird", featuring the "irresistibly salacious tremor" by Hodges,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990120016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212210625/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990120016 |archive-date=February 12, 2009 |last=Stryker |first=Mark |title=Ellington's score still celebrated |date=January 20, 2009 |newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]] |access-date=February 23, 2013}}</ref> "The Star-Crossed Lovers" from Ellington's ''[[Such Sweet Thunder]]'' suite, "[[I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)]]", "[[Blood Count]]" and "Passion Flower".<ref name=chapman/>

He had a pure [[Timbre|tone]] and economy of melody on both the [[blues]] and [[ballad (music)|ballads]] that won him admiration from musicians of all eras and styles, from [[Ben Webster]] and [[John Coltrane]], who both played with him when he had his own orchestra in the 1950s, to [[Lawrence Welk]], who featured him in an album of standards. His highly individualistic playing style, which featured the use of a wide [[vibrato]] and much sliding between slurred notes, was frequently imitated. As evidenced by the Ellington compositions named after him, he earned the nicknames ''Jeep''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/johnny_hodges.shtml |title=100 Jazz Profiles |work=[[BBC Radio 3]] |access-date=September 29, 2014}}</ref> and ''Rabbit'' – according to [[Johnny Griffin]] because "he looked like a rabbit, no expression on his face while he's playing all this beautiful music."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/7/28/in-conversation-with-johnny-griffin |title=In Conversation with Johnny Griffin |first=Ted |last=Panken |author-link=Ted Panken |work=Jazz.com |date= April 18, 1990 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318025126/http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/7/28/in-conversation-with-johnny-griffin |archive-date=March 18, 2010 }}</ref>