Hodes, Art W.

▪ 1994

      Russian-born U.S. pianist (adopted birth date Nov. 14, 1904, Nikolayev, Russia—d. March 4, 1993, Harvey, Ill.), was a blues-based jazz traditionalist who elicited a haunting melancholy sound by combining a 1920s lyrical blues approach with jazz improvisation. Hodes, who emigrated with his family when he was about six months old, chose his own birthday because the family's formal documents were lost in the move. Growing up in Chicago, he took piano lessons at Hull House, a local community centre. Hodes drew musical inspiration from the city's great black jazz and blues musicians who had come from New Orleans, La., and the South during the 1920s to play in Chicago's clubs and theatres. His two greatest influences were jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and blues singer Bessie Smith. Hodes performed with Bix Beiderbecke, Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon, and Wild Bill Davison before leaving Chicago in 1938 for New York City, where he was the host of a jazz radio program on WNYC; published, wrote, and edited his own monthly magazine, the Jazz Record; performed with the bands of Jose Marsala and Mezz Mezzrow; and recorded piano solos with his own short-lived record company. When traditional jazz lost its lustre, Hodes returned (1950) to Chicago and settled in the suburbs. He performed and toured internationally; wrote a regular column for Downbeat, the premier U.S. jazz magazine; and produced a series for public television called "Art's Place." Among his compositions were "Liberty Inn Drag," "Blues 'n' Booze," "Stuff and Nonsense," and "Paging Mr. Jelly." A series of strokes ended his playing career in the early 1990s, but he published his autobiography, Hot Man, in 1992.

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