Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges - The Stanley Dance Sessions

The Lonehill Jazz collection was established for the sole purpose of recovering lost jazz treasures previously unavailable on any other edition worldwide. This is an exquisite re-mastered collaboration between Billy Strayhorn & Johnny Hodges. 2005. Album Description

Great Hodges Showcase

As previous reviewers have stated, this is a compilation of 2 CDs, and the septet date from 1959, alone, is worth the price of admission. The sound quality is excellent, and all the band members are in top form. Just listen to the Strayhorn and Hodges solos on Gone With the Wind, the great brushwork on Cherry and Rose Room, and the Hodges solos on all the other tracks. Perfect music - and now my favorite Hodges disc. June 19, 2007

Rabbit and the Swee' Pea

This CD collects a Felsted LP produced by Stanley Dance under pianist Billy Strayhorn's name ("Cue for Saxophone," 1959), and another by master alto player Johnny Hodges originally on Verve ("Soloist," 1961). The Verve item has been reissued before on CD and is one of the best on that label featuring Hodges. THE GAL FROM JOE'S, I GOT IT BAD, and I'M JUST A LUCKY SO AND SO all receive near-definitive treatments here, with Hodges's creamy alto front and center. In fact, this entire set, except for STARDUST, which is a feature for trombonist Lawrence Brown, shines the solo spotlight almost exclusively on Rabbit, and he performs to perfection.

The Felsed material was from a septet date and also has Shorty Baker on trumpet (excellent on the up-tempo blues WATCH YOUR CUE, muted), Butter Jackson on trombone, Hodges, Strayhorn, and Russell Procope on clarinet (a stand-out on CHERRY and the theme statement of ROSE ROOM). CUE'S BLUE NOW is a long, slow blues that gives everyone a solo taste. Having both these LPs available on one CD should make any Hodges-Strayhorn/Ellington fan happy. The sound is also excellent (the Verve set had superb sound going all the way back to its release on LP: crystal clear and dynamic). March 30, 2007

Stanley Danc Sessions - Strayhorn

Greatest 'Golden Age of Jazz' icon's works, well done. Thx./D. March 10, 2007

Re-issue of "Cue for Saxophone" + "Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn and THE Orchestra"

The Amazon product description for this item is a little misleading in that it says this is part of a reissue series "established for the sole purpose of recovering lost jazz treasures previously unavailable on any other edition worldwide." Well, I've got both of these jazz treasures on CD (through not on the same CD), and they are great, if somewhat opposite albums. Tracks 1-7, released originally as by Billy Strayhorn because Hodges was signed to Verve records, are really a Johnny Hodges small group session with Strayhorn on piano and in charge of the minimal arrangements. On CD, this came out in 1988 on the London label, still under Strayhorn's name, though the liner notes come clean about the previously incognito Hodges (as if anyone would have trouble identifying that tone!). Butter Jackson (trombone), Russell Procope (clarinet), and Shorty Baker (trumpet) join Hodges here (interesting lineup, because Hodges was so often featured alongside Lawrence Brown, Harry Carney, and Ray Nance / Cootie Williams in small-group settings). It's a set of straight-ahead swing, standards and blues. No novelties or bids for radio airplay; just classic medium tempo to mellow swing. According to Strayhorn's biographer, Hodges didn't think that much of this album, but I think it's great success because while it's aims are modest, the level of talent, taste and group cohesion is very high.

"Cue for Saxophone", being in reality a Hodges blowing session, is definitely not the setting that showcases Strayhorn's genius as a composer or band arranger. The second album on this reissue CD is just such a showcase of Strayhorn's genius--it's a Verve date with the full Ellington orchestra minus Ellington (Jimmy Jones sits in on piano) from around 1960 (hence the capitalization--"THE Orchestra"--in the title). The elegantly-packaged Verve CD release is only a few years old and is still available if you want the original graphics and liner note essay. On this big-band Lp, the charts are short but packed with details, and Hodges is showcased on ballads, blues, and Ellington standards. The version of Azure here is one of Strayhorn's most beautiful charts (it features a gentle ostinato in the bass reminescent of Claude Thornhill's "Snowfall"). Day Dream is always a home run for Hodges when he's fronting the Ellington band. Almost all of the material is top shelf (one song towards the end is a bit on the cutesy side, but it is the lone fugitive from good taste). The only problem with this big-band album is that it's over too quickly.

Not having heard or seen in person this CD release, I can't comment on the mastering quality or the packaging. But the music is prime-time Hodges and Strayhorn, and features lots of other great Ellington veterans in high fidelity sound (as compared to the 78 rpm era, not to modern digital studios of course). December 8, 2006

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