Side by Side (Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges album)

Side by Side
Studio album by
Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges
Released1959
RecordedAugust 14, 1958 – Nola Studios, New York City February 20, 1959 -Columbia Studios, New York
Genrejazz
Length45:45
LabelVerve
ProducerNorman Granz
Duke Ellington chronology
Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues
(1959) 		Side by Side
(1959) 		Anatomy of a Murder
(1959)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
DownBeat[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Tom HullA[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[5]

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 jazz figures like Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Jo Jones. The album, a follow-up to Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues, has remained perpetually in print.[6]

Track listing

  1. "Stompy Jones" (Duke Ellington) – 6:38
  2. "Squeeze Me" (Fats Waller, Clarence Williams) – 4:36
  3. "Big Shoe" (Jimmy Hamilton) – 5:37
  4. "Going Up" (D. Ellington) – 4:51
  5. "Just a Memory" (Ray Henderson, Lew Brown, Buddy DeSylva) – 5:53
  6. "Let's Fall in Love" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) – 6:47
  7. "Ruint" (Mercer Ellington, Johnny Hodges) – 2:32
  8. "Bend One" (Hodges) – 2:59
  9. "You Need to Rock" (Hodges) – 5:52

Personnel

Tracks 1, 2 and 4

These tracks were recorded February 26, 1959

Tracks 3 and 5 through 9

These tracks were recorded August 14, 1958

Nat Hentoff – liner notes[7]

Notes

  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ Wilson, John S. (28 April 1960). "Duke Ellington-Johnny Hodges: Side by Side". DownBeat. Vol. 27, no. 9. p. 38.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. ^ Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Essential Jazz Albums of the 1950s". tomhull.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 435. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. ^ Chambers, Jack. "Sweet as Bear Meat: The Paradox of Johnny Hodges". (July/August 2001) Coda 298, pp. 16–20.
  7. ^ Side By Side Verve Music Group catalog. Accessed September 17, 2007.