Otto Hardwick

From right: Barney Bigard , Ben Webster , Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney , Rex Stewart , Sonny Greer , Wallace Jones (?), Ray Nance .
Photography by William P. Gottlieb .

Otto James Hardwick (born May 31, 1904 in Washington, DC ; † August 5, 1970 ibid), called Toby, was an important long-time member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra as a saxophonist (alto, occasionally bass, baritone and soprano) . He also played as a bass player.

Live and act

Hardwick began as a bassist, but switched to the alto saxophone at Duke Ellington's suggestion in 1920, but later he occasionally played bass and violin (and also mastered the clarinet). With Ellington, a childhood friend, he played in the original line-up of the band, the "Washingtonians" , from 1919. In 1923 he went to New York with them, where Ellington took over the management and where they spent 3 years in a nightclub on Times Square , the Kentucky Club . Since the fun-loving Hardwick was not always very reliable, he was nicknamed "Toby" in the band, just as, conversely, many band members owed their nickname to him. In 1928 he moved from Ellington to Paris , where he played in a band of bassist John Ricks , in Nekka Shaw's band , with Sidney Bechet and with Noble Sissle , was briefly with Chick Webb in 1929 and led his own band in New York from 1930 (in the Hot Feet Club), where Fats Waller played for a while (1930), James P. Johnson and Count Basie . After a short time with Elmer Snowden in Small's Paradise in Harlem (where he had played in Washington in 1922 and with the Washingtonians), he returned to Ellington in 1932, where, however, Johnny Hodges had now taken his place as a soloist. At the end of 1940 he took part in the legendary concert in Fargo, North Dakota . In May 1946 he split up in a dispute with Ellington (once again it was about Hardwick's girlfriend, and Hardwick was fed up with constant travel) and withdrew from music after he had made a few recordings as a leader in 1947. He worked on his father's tobacco farm in Maryland and was a hotel manager.

He is considered a co-author of Sophisticated Lady (with Ellington and trombonist Lawrence Brown , first recording with his solo in 1933), In a Sentimental Mood , Prelude to a Kiss , Hop Head (with Ellington), Down in Our Alley Blues (with Ellington).

literature

• Stanley Dance The World of Duke Ellington , 1970 (interview with Hardwick)

Web links

• Biography of Scott Yanow at Verve
• Hardwick on bass sax
• Biography of Kernfeld from American National Biography