ROBIN HODES
ROBIN HODES
Robin (Bob) Hodes - Jazz Trumpeter (1926 – 2005)
“I played trumpet with Kid Ory for six weeks in 1957. The personnel at that time was Kid Ory (tbn) Robin Hodes (tpt) Phil Gomez (clt) Cedric Haywood (pno) Charles Oden (sbs) and Jimmy Carter (drs). I was 30 years old in 1957 and Ory was 72, I marvelled at how well he was playing then, there was justification in calling him “Kid” which I always did.
When I first met Ory he said “ are you the boy that has Don Ewell in your band?” I said yes and he asked me to meet him at a club on Fillmore Street in the black section of town at like 2.30 in the afternoon. I went there and the whole band was there. Ory said “What do you want to play”, I said careless love and he stomped off a perfect tempo, we played it and one other tune which I forget and he hired me. He was very easy to work with. One time he invited my wife Ginny and me to dinner – he cooked creole Gumbo, I noticed he didn't eat much – it was good but as soon as I finished eating it I had to go to the can, it went right through me! Another time I was at his house and I asked him for the music of Mahogany Hall Stomp. He gave it to me to copy which I did and he had like five quarter notes in one bar and maybe six eight notes and two quarter notes in another bar. I said “Where did you get this music?” and he said “I copied it off my record”. Ha1 ha! He had the right notes but the wrong division of time. He knew as much about music as I did D.D. But I tell you he could play – he had a lot of soul and energy even at his age at that time.
I quit his band because I had an offer from the “Good Time Jazz” to make a record and I thought I would make a better record with a working band. I went to his house and gave him my notice that I wanted to quit and why. He said that he would be happy to have me stay with him – that he was going to play the Newport Jazz Festival – make a record – and then go to Europe. But like an idiot I felt that I would have been better off leading my own band, so I quit his band. Nothing happened for me – the record deal fell through and it was a hassle to find work for my band, and I had Don Ewell playing piano!
My wife at that time was managing his night club in San Francisco called “On The Levee” , and he would phone me and ask me who he could get on this or that instrument to play with him, and I would help him find guys to play. One time I said to him “Why don't you hire me” and he said “You quit me” that was that. Well he hired Red Allen to make the record and tour Europe, and I certainly wasn't a match for the great Red Allen.
I think that it's great that someone has written a book about him as I believe that he was an important and one of the truly great early jazz musicians and a book about him has been long overdue, I loved the guy.
I must tell you this as there was a charm to it, we were playing a song, and I had my eyes closed, and suddenly I felt a very light movement across my back between my shoulders, I opened my eyes and looked towards Ory – he very lightly ran his finger across my back and he wanted my attention – he wanted me to swing back and forth as we were playing. I never had any problems with him – he was always very civil and good with me, and when I quit I would still go to his house and visit and let him know who was playing etc.
George Lewis brought Thomas Jefferson to San Francisco when he was playing at the Tin Angle, in 1956 or 1957. For some reason he left Lewis and then briefly he played with Ory there. Thomas seemed like a moody guy, he rarely smiled. He was about 6' 4'' tall, and I'll tell you I thought he was a wonderful trumpet player, he had a great range and a nice tone. He told me that Louis gave him his first horn.