Cambridge last Saturday honored a great musician with local roots, inaugurating July 25 as “Johnny Hodges Appreciation Day” and unveiling a commemorative plaque honoring him.
John Cornelius “Johnny” Hodges was born on July 25, 1907 in a three-decker at 137 Putnam Avenue. He was the lead alto saxophonist for the Duke Ellington band for four decades, except for a four-year period in the 1950s when he led his own ensemble. At Hodges’ funeral in 1970, Ellington said “Our band will never sound the same.”
A bronze plaque with a bas relief sculpture of Hodges was installed on a fence bordering Putnam Gardens, a Cambridge Housing Authority apartment complex across the street from where Hodges was born.
The event was celebrated by a group of jazz musicians, educators, afficionados and fans as well as neighbors. “Johnny Hodges is one of the greatest American musicians, and the fact that he was born in Cambridge, in a house that’s still standing, that people live in, is so amazing,” said Matt Glaser, founding artistic director of the American Roots Music Program at Berklee College of Music…