Owen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center: Vol. Two

At times, while listening to random classics in the collection, one can have the idea that everything in jazz evolved from the late '40s to early '50s bebop. But before bop was swing. Duke Ellington stayed with swing through bop, funk, and fusion. And so did alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (1906-1970), who played in Ellington's band from its early days, the late-1920s.

A much-admired player with a distinctive tone and a beautiful way with a melody, Hodges also had a respectable career in his own right, recording dozens of small combo albums as leader or co-leader. Two of the best are co-leader outings with Ellington, Back To Back and Side By Side, both from 1959 on Verve Records.

Alto and baritone saxophonist Owen Broder nodded to the Johnny Hodges and Duke Ellington approach with his Hodges: Front And Center, Vol. One (Outside In Records, 2021); now he doubles down on that nod with his Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. Two.

Broder brings in the same quintet that he used in the first volume. It swings. It hints at modernity, especially in trumpeter Riley Mulherkar's solos. Pianist Carmen Staaf displays a crisp Ellingtonian astringency, especially in the intro to W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues.."

Featured here are Ellington's "Saint Louis Blues" and the hard-swinging "Wabash Blues," both of which appeared on the Ellington and Hodges album Back To Back. Ellington's "Stompy Jones," a vehicle of lively improvisation, appeared on Side By Side. And—borrowed from Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder album (Columbia, 1957)---we have "Star Crossed Lovers" . The rest come from Broder's pen, and they all fit in as tastes of old-time swing, seasoned nicely with a modern twist or two squeezed in.

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