Art Hodes was never the type of musician who complained about not getting enough gigs; he always did something about it. He was a fighter for classic jazz for many decades, not just as a distinctive pianist but in his writings, work on the radio, and on television shows that he hosted. While very much aware of the modern styles of jazz, Hodes stuck throughout his career to the music he loved best: Dixieland, swing standards, and the blues. And he did all of that without sounding like any other pianist.
He was born on Nov. 14, 1904, in Mykolaiv, Russia, in an area that is now part of Ukraine. Hodes moved with his family to Chicago when he was just six months old. He always considered Chicago to be his home even though he spent a long period in New York. His mother had dreamt while still in Russia that her son would someday be a great pianist, so he had piano lessons from an early age. The young pianist discovered jazz in the early 1920s when he heard radio broadcasts by the Coon-Sanders Orchestra.
Hodes gained early experience accompanying singers at the Rainbow Gardens Café, worked one summer with banjoist Earl Murphy (whose record collection introduced him to many of the jazz greats), and in 1926 toured with the Wolverines two years after Bix Beiderbecke had departed. Around this time he met trumpeter Wingy Manone who became a lifelong friend. They shared an apartment for two years and Hodes became part of the Chicago jazz scene. His only recordings of the era were two songs (“Trying To Stop My Crying” and “Isn’t There A Little Love”) with a sextet led by Manone from Dec. 17, 1928 and four privately recorded piano solos (one with singer Benny Meylan) from 1930. The latter session was not released for eighty years, eventually coming out on a Solo Art CD. During this period, Hodes worked with such notables as Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon and Pee Wee Russell among many others and had opportunities to hang out with Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke.
Unlike most of the Eddie Condon Chicago gang, Hodes did not head for New York in the late 1920s, choosing to stay in Chicago until 1938. During the Depression years, he developed his own style, being strongly inspired by the African-American jazz and blues pianists who he encountered. Hodes was renowned throughout his career for the melancholy and lowdown feeling that he gave to the blues. In addition, when he played uptempo tunes, hitting the chords with his left-hand right on the beat, he was invariably generated a great deal of excitement.
While he often played behind singers when he was not buried in bands or performing strictly for dancers in Chicago, Hodes was featured much more in freewheeling settings during the dozen years that he was based in New York. Soon after his arrival, he was working regularly with clarinetist Joe Marsala’s group which was followed by a long-term association with Mezz Mezzrow.
Art Hodes was quite busy throughout the 1940s on several levels. He expanded the group of his associates beyond those he knew from Chicago to the many who were involved in the Dixieland revival. Hodes recorded very regularly during this era including piano solos (“Selection From The Gutter” was the name of one of his blues), trio dates, and Dixieland dates as both a leader and sidemen. His sessions were for such companies as Solo Art, Signature, Decca, Black & White, his own Jazz Record label, and an extensive series of heated Dixieland recordings for Blue Note during 1944-45 that were reissued on a limited-edition and long out-of-print Mosaic box set. Among those who he met on records and on the bandstand were trumpeters Sidney DeParis, Marty Marsalis, Max Kaminsky, and Wild Bill Davison, trombonists George Brunies and Vic Dickenson, clarinetists Rod Cless, Mezz Mezzrow, Edmond Hall, Omer Simeon, Albert Nicholas and Tony Parenti, rhythm guitarist Eddie Condon, bassists Bob Haggart, Pops Foster, and Wellman Braud, and drummers Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds, and Danny Alvin, not to mention Sidney Bechet. Hodes guested on one of Eddie Condon’s Town Hall concerts and was a regular on Rudi Blesh’s This Is Jazz radio broadcasts. He also played regularly in New York at Jimmy Ryan’s and Nick’s.
Somewhat reluctantly, Art Hodes became involved in the moldy fig versus bebop wars of the mid-1940s, standing up for classic jazz against those who championed bebop such as writers Leonard Feather and Barry Ulanov. While Hodes had nothing against bop, he was stung by some of the comments by the more strident writers and lost the opportunity to record with Lester Young due to their personal attacks and unfair criticism of his playing.
Art Hodes was the host of a six-day a week jazz radio show on WNYC for several years that emphasized small-group jazz. During 1943-47, he was the editor of The Jazz Record, a magazine that lasted long enough to put out 60 issues. His publication was particularly noteworthy in that, in addition to his own pieces, it gave such legends as Cow Cow Davenport, Big Bill Broonzy, Zutty Singleton, Omer Simeon, Baby Dodds, Jim Robinson, Doc Evans and many others the rare opportunity to write articles about their lives and experiences. The book Selections From The Gutter (University Of California Press, 1977) includes many of the best pieces.
In 1950, Art Hodes decided that he preferred the lifestyle of Chicago over that of New York and he ended his 12-year period in the Big Apple although he would return for concerts many times. He worked a wide variety of musical jobs in the 1950s and had occasional opportunities to record including for Jazzology (several projects including a trio with clarinetist George Lewis), Paramount (with either Darnell Howard or Volley de Faut on clarinet), EmArcy, Audiophile, and Mercury (with a double Dixieland band co-led by Jimmy McPartland). In 1959 Hodes made an album with Bob Scobey (with whom he worked briefly), cut a few records with Albert Nicholas, and the following year appeared on a recording with Clancy Hayes. Even while retaining his individual style, Hodes was willing to play with any top musician whose music was comparable to his.
In the 1960s, Art Hodes continued to be one of classic jazz’s top propagandists, spreading the gospel wherever he could. He had a regular column for Downbeat (Sittin’ In), his articles about jazz appeared in several publications including the New York Times, he performed at 88 different high schools during 1963-64, and he was featured on a half-hour television show Plain Ol’ Blues for an educational television station. During 1969-71 Hodes hosted six episodes of Jazz Alley in which he welcomed and played with such notables as J.C. Higginbotham, Tony Parenti, Eddie Condon, Barney Bigard, George Brunies, Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy McPartland, and Doc Evans, some of whom he also interviewed. Those timeless shows were released on videotapes by Storyville and then on DVD years ago as Vols. 1-3 Jazz Alley. They can probably be found online with a bit of a search.
In the 1970s Hodes toured with all-star groups, performed in Canada and Europe, and lectured about jazz at colleges. While he had recorded fairly often in the 1960s including accompanying Mama Yancey (Jimmy Yancey’s widow), and making separate duet albums with bassists Pops Foster and Truck Parham, his activities really accelerated in the 1970s. Hodes toured Denmark in 1970, led a group the following year that included Wild Bill Davison, Barney Bigard, and Eddie Condon, and recorded regularly during the decade for such labels as Solo Art, Jazzology, Storyville, Fat Cat’s Jazz, Delmark, Audiophile (including a set led by Maxine Sullivan), Monmouth/Evergreen (the classic Hot Three album with Kenny Davern and drummer Don DeMichael), and Euphonic. Few veterans of the 1920s fared so well during the fusion era.
In 1979, Art Hodes hosted another short-lived but historic television series. Art’s Place found him running a fictional small night club for five episodes. Featured along with the pianist were his old friend Wingy Manone, Little Brother Montgomery, Kenny Davern, Herb Hall, Butch Thompson, and Benny Morton. Those programs are available on two DVDs put out by GHB: After Hours at Art’s Place Vols. 1 & 2.
Art Hodes turned 75 in 1980 but he was far from through. During the next five years he recorded 13 albums and during 1985-90 he appeared on 19 more including 13 as a leader. He toured the United Kingdom (1987), Ireland (1988), and Great Britain (1989 with Wild Bill Davison) and in the latter year appeared with the Legends of American Dixieland. In 1992 he published his colorful and informative autobiography Hot Man (University of Illinois Press).
Art Hodes was never inactive, even during his twilight years. Modern jazz journalists seemed to finally discover him during his last decade, noticing that he had recorded Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and Horace Silver’s “The Preacher” and that he was one of the great piano masters of the blues. In Chicago he was regularly praised as one of their great local legends.
After a full life, Art Hodes passed away on March 4, 1993, at the age of 88. On recordings, television shows, and in print, he certainly made quite a major contribution to classic jazz, leaving today’s listeners a huge musical legacy that deserves to be rediscovered.
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
