Picture a saxophonist standing motionless on a swinging bandstand with a face so blank he looks bored, while the sound coming out of his horn brings the audience to tears. That contradiction belonged to Johnny Hodges, lead alto saxophonist of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and one of the most imitated voices of the big band era. This episode explores how a self-taught kid from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who started on drums and piano and played house dances for about $8 a night, became a titan of American music without ever moving his body on stage.

We cover the two competing origin stories for his nickname Rabbit, the moment at 14 when his sister introduced him to Sidney Bechet at a Boston burlesque hall and he played My Honey's Lovin' Arms on the spot, his move to New York in 1924, and his arrival in Ellington's band in November 1928. We get ...