JazzTimes – October 2019

32 JAZZTIMES SEPTEMBER 2019

Benny suggested they do four choruses,

taking it through the keys. When they

got to B major [five sharps], Jimmy got

his ass kicked.

Perhaps Hodges developed his facil-

ity playing in the key of B at house-

rent parties in Boston, where—Char-

lie Holmes recalled—the pianist was

expected to play “in either F sharp or

B natural. That’s all they’d play, on all

the black notes, you know. And John-

ny would take his horn out, without

knowing about the keys, and just blow

in any key.”

Hodges went on to become the first

among equals in the Ellington orches-

tra, taking three solos to every one that

the Duke gave to any other musician.

Carter, on the other hand, made the

fateful decision to spend the years from

1935 to 1938 in Europe. He ultimately

decided to return to America for artis-

tic reasons, saying, “I don’t hear enough

decent music to inspire me at all and I

think what keeps me going now is the

anticipation of my return to America. I

really don’t want to get too far behind.”

scholar Martin Williams expressed his

preference by saying “Johnny Hodges

can play the blues; Benny Carter not.”

But Carter was Hodges’ superior in

terms of melodic invention and har-

monic complexity. Benny Waters, who

knew both men well, recalled a late-

night cutting contest among Hodges,

Carter and Jimmy Dorsey, at the time

a more established figure than either.

On the night in question, according to

Waters, “Dorsey ... came up to Harlem

to jam with the best black alto saxmen.”

Dorsey cut Johnny Hodges because, as

Waters put it, Dorsey “knew a little bit

more harmony than Johnny. Johnny,

in his harmony, wasn’t too advanced.”

Then, according to Waters,

somebody said, “Call

up Benny Carter” ...

Benny started playing

“Georgia Brown,” and

... every four bars

[Car ter wou ld] move

into a different key.

Waters said Dorsey “got all red in

the face and practically hauled up and

walked out—looked like a drowned

rat,” leaving Carter—whose nickname

was “The King”—the winner.

While Dorsey cut Hodges that

night, with Carter’s encouragement

he came back to win a rematch, again

according to Waters:

Johnny was very upset, but Benny

Carter told him not to worry, he’ d

get him the next time he showed up.

[W]hen Dorsey came back the next

week ... [t]hey did “Tiger Rag” and

Despite his

admiration for

Carter, there

are signs that

Hodges ultimately

developed

feelings of

professional envy

towards him.

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L to R: Carter, Ellington,

and Hodges at the 1968

Newport Jazz Festival