Blue Hodge
Blue Hodge is an album recorded by American jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges featuring performances recorded in 1961 and released on the Verve label. Reception. The Allmusic site awarded the album 3 stars. "Blue Hodge" was the first of eight LPs released between 1961 and 1967 that featured Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis in a small-group jazz context. While most of the Hodges-Davis sessions feature a mix of traditional popular music standards and jazz compositions written by Hodges, Duke Ellington, and musicians associated with Duke Ellington, "Blue Hodge" features three compositions by Gary McFarland. McFarland was  still relatively unknown at the time of the recording, though during the next two years, he arranged albums for Stan Getz and Bill Evans that allowed him to launch his own recording career. Also notable is the presence of Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums, both of whom were in the midst of a several-year stint as the part of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet.