I soloed on "Portrait Of Louis Armstrong" with my college big band 40 years ago, and I did my best impersonation of Cootie Williams. It was a shame that Hodges died before the studio recording of the New Orleans Suite, as he was scheduled to play soprano sax again for the song "Portrait Of Sidney Bechet." After several great recordings during the Blanton-Webster era in the early 1940's, such as "Blue Goose," Hodges had mothballed his soprano, supposedly, when he couldn't get Ellington to pay him even more salary for doubling on the instrument.
I soloed on "Portrait Of Louis Armstrong" with my college big band 40 years ago, and I did my best impersonation of Cootie Williams. It was a shame that Hodges died before the studio recording of the New Orleans Suite, as he was scheduled to play soprano sax again for the song "Portrait Of Sidney Bechet." After several great recordings during the Blanton-Webster era in the early 1940's, such as "Blue Goose," Hodges had mothballed his soprano, supposedly, when he couldn't get Ellington to pay him even more salary for doubling on the instrument.