About Me
Born July 25th, 1907 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, John Cornelius Hodges is one of the most well known saxophonists in jazz history. His pure tone and wide use of vibrato made him popular during the age of big bands.Johnny, a.k.a. Rabbit or Jeep, played the drums and piano before starting on soprano sax at the age of 14. Hodges was taught and inspired by Sidney Bechet, although he soon switched to alto as his main horn. In 1928, Hodges' real career started when he joined Duke Ellington's orchestra as lead reed. He played sitting next to other great saxophonists, including Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Otto Hardwick, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Harry Carney, and Russell Procope. Hodges was featured on many popular songs, such as "Ain't What They Used to Be", "I Got It Bad", or "Passion Flower".In 1951, Hodges, to every band members surprise, left Ellington's orchestra to start a small group of his own. He recruited the famous Al Sears on tenor saxophone. His group had only one big hit, "Castle Rock" (which didn't even feature the altoist). The small group eventually fell apart and Hodges returned to Ellington's band in 1955.Johnny Hodges never again left Ellington's orchestra until a sudden heart attack killed Hodges on May 11th, 1970 in New York City.
