Editing Johnny Hodges (section)

===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>