Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Side By Side [Speakers Corner 180g LP] 24-bit/96kHz

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Just as exceptional is the recording quality of this LP. Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the two sessions, the reissue offers a excellent opportunity to pay homage to the Verve recording engineers.

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Although it is billed as a Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges album, Side by Side is a 1959 album mostly under the leadership of Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington's alto saxophonist for many years. Ellington only appears on three of this album's tracks. The album places Hodges at the fore, backing him with piano by Ellington or Billy Strayhorn and providing other accompaniment by well-known jazz figures like Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Jo Jones. The album, a follow-up to the popular Ellington and Hodges Play the Blues Back to Back, has remained perpetually in print and was among the first of the Verve Music Group catalog to be transferred to CD.




Track listing

Side A:

"Stompy Jones" (Duke Ellington) – 6:38
"Just Squeeze Me" (Fats Waller ,Clarence Williams) – 4:36
"Big Shoe" (Jimmy Hamilton) – 5:37
"Going Up" (Duke Ellington) – 4:51

Side B:

"Just a Memory" (Lew Brown, Buddy DeSylva, Ray Henderson) – 5:53
"Let's Fall in Love" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) – 6:47
"Ruint" (Mercer Ellington ,Johnny Hodges) – 2:32
"Bend One" (Hodges) – 2:59
"You Need to Rock" (Hodges) – 5:52

Personnel

Tracks 1, 2 and 4

Duke Ellington – piano
Johnny Hodges – saxophone: alto
Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
Les Spann – flute, guitar
Al Hall – bass
Jo Jones – drums

These tracks were recorded February 20, 1959

Tracks 3 and 5 through 9

Johnny Hodges – saxophone: alto
Roy Eldridge – trumpet
Lawrence Brown – trombone
Ben Webster – saxophone: tenor
Billy Strayhorn – piano
Wendell Marshall – bass
Jo Jones – drums

These tracks were recorded August 14, 1958

Nat Hentoff – liner notes