Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges – Side By Side

Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges — Side By Side

Acoustic Sounds Series reissues from Verve/Universal Music Enterprises!

Monthly releases highlighting the world’s most historic and best jazz records!

All-analog mastering by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab

180-gram vinyl pressed at Quality Record Pressings

When Norman Granz signed Johnny Hodges to a recording contract in 1951, it was a prelude to Hodges’ leaving the Duke Ellington orchestra to lead his own small band. Four years later Hodges was back in the Ellington fold, but he continued to record for Granz under his own name.

Side By Side, recorded in 1958 and 1959, is a throwback to the small-group sessions Ellington recorded with Hodges and other members of his orchestra in the 1930s, but with a couple of important differences: the absence of Ellington himself on several cuts (with Billy Strayhorn taking over on piano), and the presence of such notable non-Ellingtonians as drummer Jo Jones and trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Harry “Sweets” Edison. The Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.