Performance · Other credits
Johnny Hodges
Cambridge, United States · 1907-07-25 – 1970-05-11
Johnny Hodges is credited on 5,526 releases across 1,385 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1950–2025 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.
5,526
Pressings credited
1,385
Albums
8
Decades active
279
In collections
Biography
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1940. Along with Benny Carter, Hodges is considered to be one of the definitive alto saxophone players of the big band era. After beginning his career as a teenager in Boston, Hodges began to travel to New York and played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Luckey Roberts, and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956.
Bio from Wikipedia
Credited work
5,526 releases · 1,385 albums · active 1950–2025
- Performance · 10,068
- Other credits · 1,347
- Engineering · 1
Studios: Newport Jazz Festival · Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey · Carnegie Hall · RCA Studio A
Discography
Records they worked on — most-collected first.
Ellington Indigos
1958
Money Jungle
1962
Ellington At Newport
1956
Mack The Knife - Ella In Berlin
1960
Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
1963
Masterpieces By Ellington
1951
Blues In Orbit
1960
Volume IV
1958
The Smithsonian Collection Of Classic Jazz
1973
Here Is Phineas (The Piano Artistry Of Phineas Newborn Jr.)
1956
Ella And Basie!
1963
First Time! The Count Meets The Duke
1962
Sinatra - Basie: An Historic Musical First
1962
Otto Preminger's Anatomy Of A Murder (From The Sound Track Of The Motion Picture)
1959
Ellington Uptown
1953
Jingle Bell Jazz
1962
Jazz At The Pawnshop
1977
Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits
1967
Such Sweet Thunder
1957
Lady Day
1954
The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
1950
Unknown Session
1979
The Billie Holiday Story Volume I
1973
This Is The Big Band Era
1971
Frequent collaborators
- Duke Ellington
- Various
- Duke Ellington And His Orchestra
- Billie Holiday
- Johnny Hodges And His Orchestra
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
- Ben Webster
Around the web
See who really made the music.
Gatefold maps every producer, engineer, and player across your shelf — the credits no one else surfaces.
Start your shelf →Free forever. Works with 10 records or 10,000.