Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges

[Jazz Kat]

Mulligan, my favorite saxophonist. He's here with Johhny Hodges. Never really knew about him before this disk, which I learned of quite a while ago. This album has one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME, "18 Carrots for a Rabbit." Man that thing swings! Plus more fantastic material! 5 stars!

[Morganized]

  Quote

Jazz Kat Posted Today, 10:21 AM

  Mulligan, my favorite saxophonist. He's here with Johhny Hodges. Never really knew about him before this disk, which I learned of quite a while ago. This album has one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME, "18 Carrots for a Rabbit." Man that thing swings! Plus more fantastic material! 5 stars!

I got to hip to this one a while back. I agree. I found myself listening to it over and over. It just kept getting better. Very nice.

[DTMX]

This is one of a series of recordings that paired Mulligan up with another saxophonist such as Ben Webster or Zoot Sims. All of them are pretty good. And on the Zoot Sims match-up, Sims and Mulligan swap horns for one song ("Lady in Red" I think).

[Stereojack]

  DTMX said:

This is one of a series of recordings that paired Mulligan up with another saxophonist such as Ben Webster or Zoot Sims. All of them are pretty good. And on the Zoot Sims match-up, Sims and Mulligan swap horns for one song ("Lady in Red" I think).

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Actually it's Stan Getz, not Zoot. And I believe they swap horns on two songs, and they sound pretty good!

[Jazz Kat]

The album in my avatar is great! Desmond and Mulligan do Line for Lyons quite swell!

[DTMX]

  Stereojack said:

  DTMX said:

This is one of a series of recordings that paired Mulligan up with another saxophonist such as Ben Webster or Zoot Sims. All of them are pretty good. And on the Zoot Sims match-up, Sims and Mulligan swap horns for one song ("Lady in Red" I think).

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Actually it's Stan Getz, not Zoot. And I believe they swap horns on two songs, and they sound pretty good!

←

Edited August 7, 2005 by DTMX

[Kalo]

  Jazz Kat said:

...Johhny Hodges. Never really knew about him before this disk...

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Ever hear of a cat called Duke Ellington? Check out his recordings from, say, the 1920s to the 1970s and you'll hear a LOT of Hodges, on the tunes that made his reputation as just about the best alto player this side of Charlie Parker. (There are those that prefer Hodges to Parker, and I can't blame them.)

Mulligan dug Ellington, too.

[neveronfriday]

  Kalo said:

(There are those that prefer Hodges to Parker, and I can't blame them.)

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Count me in, definitely.

Finally someone who doesn't blame me for it either.

[EKE BBB]

  neveronfriday said:

  Kalo said:

(There are those that prefer Hodges to Parker, and I can't blame them.)

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Count me in, definitely.

Finally someone who doesn't blame me for it either.

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If I had to choose.... well, don´t put me in that awkward situation....

[EKE BBB]

  Kalo said:

  Jazz Kat said:

...Johhny Hodges. Never really knew about him before this disk...

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Ever hear of a cat called Duke Ellington? Check out his recordings from, say, the 1920s to the 1970s and you'll hear a LOT of Hodges, on the tunes that made his reputation as just about the best alto player this side of Charlie Parker.

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Oh, so that´s the guy who appears playing alto in about 200 discs in my collection.... you always learn something new!

[neveronfriday]

You only have 200?

You're lying through your teeth.

[Jazz Kat]

  Kalo said:

  Jazz Kat said:

...Johhny Hodges. Never really knew about him before this disk...

←

Ever hear of a cat called Duke Ellington? Check out his recordings from, say, the 1920s to the 1970s and you'll hear a LOT of Hodges, on the tunes that made his reputation as just about the best alto player this side of Charlie Parker. (There are those that prefer Hodges to Parker, and I can't blame them.)

Mulligan dug Ellington, too.

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This recording was one of the first real jazz disks I heard, which was a while ago according to the span of my life so far. I knew of Duke Ellington before Hodges, but when I frist got into jazz full time, I was more into 50's and 60's bop. It took me a while to learn some things about Ellington and Basie.

[BruceH]

If I had to choose, it would be...........Paul Desmond.

No! Art Pepper.

No! Benny Carter.

Aaaah, screw it.

[Free For All]

  BruceH said:

If I had to choose, it would be...........Paul Desmond. 

No!  Art Pepper.

No!  Benny Carter.

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Blue! No...Red!

[Kalo]

  Jazz Kat said:

This recording was one of the first real jazz disks I heard, which was a while ago according to the span of my life so far. I knew of Duke Ellington before Hodges, but when I frist got into jazz full time, I was more into 50's and 60's bop. It took me a while to learn some things about Ellington and Basie.

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You're doing great, Jazz Kat. When I was your age, I knew exactly squat about ANY of the above. Of course, in the dark ages of the 1970s, much of Ellington's output was out of print in the U.S., including the Blanton/Webster glory days! The kids I knew who listened to jazz at all back then were mostly into contemporary Maynard Ferguson, Keith Jarrett, or vsarious types of fusion, none of which did anything for me. A good friend, who's now a pro pianist in NYC, introduced me to Monk, while Miles Davis, Brubeck, and Mingus did have some currency among those of us who were getting interested in the music, mostly through their widely distributed Columbia recordings.

Still, even though Ellington is readily available in mass quantities today, you're still to be very much commended for digging him, Hodges, Mulligan, etc.

[Kalo]

  BruceH said:

If I had to choose, it would be...........Paul Desmond. 

No!  Art Pepper.

No!  Benny Carter.

Aaaah, screw it.

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Hey, I dig all of the above, as you know, BruceH. And how about Ornette, if you're talking alto?

And, no, I won't choose between Hodges and Parker either.

Love 'em both.

Edited August 8, 2005 by Kalo

[BruceH]

I know what you mean, Kalo. 'Choosing' between the real giants is always an absurd proposition.

[Alexander]

I picked this disc up around the same time I was getting heavily into Duke, which means I was also getting heavily into Hodges. This is a wonderful disc...a truly outstanding meeting between two kindred spirits, despite the differences in age, race, and musical affiliation. Great stuff.

Oddly enough, I don't think I have ANY Mulligan that ISN'T a team-up with another notable musician. I have two with Desmond, one with Getz, obviously the material with Baker, the one with Hodges and the one with Monk. I do have one of the Concert Jazz Band albums (and that one's full of notable side-men), but that's about it. What else should I look into? Does anyone have the disc that's just been reissued by Sony?

[Stereojack]

  Alexander said:

Does anyone have the disc that's just been reissued by Sony?

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I've owned it on LP for years. a nice, loose session, Gerry blowing with a great rhythm section.

I've always been partial to "What Is There To Say", his other Columbia album.

Have also always liked the Emarcy sextet sessions, released over several LP's, w/ Jon Eardley, Zoot Sims.

[JPF]

  Stereojack said:

  Alexander said:

Does anyone have the disc that's just been reissued by Sony?

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I've owned it on LP for years. a nice, loose session, Gerry blowing with a great rhythm section.

I've always been partial to "What Is There To Say", his other Columbia album.

Have also always liked the Emarcy sextet sessions, released over several LP's, w/ Jon Eardley, Zoot Sims.

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Michael Cuscuna told me a few months back that Mosaic plans to do the complete Mulligan Sextet sessions sometime in the future, but not until after the next Mulligan set they're doing, later this year.

[Jazz Kat]

  Alexander said:

Oddly enough, I don't think I have ANY Mulligan that ISN'T a team-up with another notable musician. 

I don't think that's so odd. When you're Mulligan, i doubt anyone but a 'notable musician' is going to play with you. Now if you said other saxophonists, that might be odd, but not that odd since they were able to make a whole album of Gerry's instances with other notable saxophone players.