.

.

.

The correct answer is Otto Hardwick!

.

.

 

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress

Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Rex Stewart, Sonny Greer, Wallace Jones, Ray Nance.  (c. 1938 – 46)

.

___

.

 

…..Otto Hardwick was a childhood friend of Duke Ellington’s, and joined Ellington’s first band in Washington, D.C. in 1919.  He specialized on alto saxophone but also occasionally played clarinet, as well as the baritone and soprano saxophone.  In 1928, Hardwick left Ellington’s orchestra and played in Europe for a time with ensembles led by Noble Sissle and Sidney Bechet.  He returned to New York in 1929 and, after some work with Chick Webb, Fats Waller, Chu Berry and Elmer Snowden, rejoined Ellington’s orchestra in 1932.  He played alto on Ellington numbers from 1932 – 1946, but Johnny Hodges played most of the alto solos.  It is believed that Hardwick left the band in 1946 because Ellington didn’t like his girlfriend.  He retired from music the following year.

.

 

Click here to go to Hardwick’s Wikipedia page

.

.

Listen to the 1933 recording of Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady,”  which, according Ellington biographer James Lincoln Collier, is an adaptation of an Otto Hardwick melody.  Hardwick is heard on alto saxophone.

.

.

Click here to play another Jazz History Quiz!

.

.

.