Johnny Hodges
![Hodges playing a [[C.G. Conn|Conn 6M]] with [[Al Sears]] in background, 1946](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Johnny_Hodges_and_Al_Sears%2C_Aquarium%2C_New_York%2C_ca._Nov._1946_%28William_P._Gottlieb_04191%29.jpg)
After beginning his career as a teenager in Boston, Hodges began to travel to New York and played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Luckey Roberts and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Provided by Wikipedia