Ever hear of a cat called Duke Ellington? Check out his recordings from, say, the 1920s to the 1970s and you'll hear a LOT of Hodges, on the tunes that made his reputation as just about the best alto player this side of Charlie Parker. (There are those that prefer Hodges to Parker, and I can't blame them.)
Mulligan dug Ellington, too.
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This recording was one of the first real jazz disks I heard, which was a while ago according to the span of my life so far. I knew of Duke Ellington before Hodges, but when I frist got into jazz full time, I was more into 50's and 60's bop. It took me a while to learn some things about Ellington and Basie.