Johnny Hodges – Johnny Hodges With Billy Strayhorn (2LPs, Analogue Productions)

Recorded during the last decade of his long tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, this album finds the great alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges musical gifts not only intact but stronger than ever. Featuring the Ellington band – with Jimmy Jones on piano and Billy Strayhorn as bandleader and arranger – it is a fascinating program of Ellington remakes, including some of the orchestras most familiar numbers, all of which have been given subtle new orchestrations by Strayhorn and melodious new interpretations by Hodges.