Hodges and Davis in the Verve Years
Hodges and Davis find an easy swing together, letting the organ breathe under those creamy saxophone lines.
Wings & Things arrived in 1965 when Johnny Hodges was in his late fifties, still swinging hard but working mostly outside the spotlight that had defined his Duke Ellington years. This record is a straightforward organ-and-saxophone date—no strings, no arrangements that get in the way. Wild Bill Davis on organ is a natural partner for Hodges. Davis understood how to stay out of the way while still anchoring everything with those rolling, blues-inflected lines that made the Hammond B-3 feel like a full rhythm section on its own.
The album doesn't break new ground, and it wasn't treated as a major statement when it came out. That's fine. This is a working musician's record—Hodges doing exactly what he'd been doing for decades, but doing it well. The music swings without strain. Hodges' tone remains one of the most distinctive in jazz, a kind of burnished, almost vocal quality that makes even a straightforward blues feel considered. There's no flash here, no attempt to prove anything. It's the sound of someone confident enough to let the songs and the pocket do the work.
If you come to this album expecting a lost masterpiece or a hidden turning point, you'll be disappointed. But if you want to hear two veteran musicians who know exactly how to play together, who understand the blues and swing as lived experience rather than exercise, Wings & Things delivers on that promise.
Who's playing
Richard Davisdouble bass
Hank Jonespiano
Grant Greenguitar
Johnny Hodgesalto saxophone
Lawrence Browntrombone
Wild Bill Davisorgan
Ben Dixonmembranophone
Where next?
More by Johnny Hodges
Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues 1959
3 Shades of Blue 1970
Everybody Knows 1964
Stride Right 1966
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
