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Dexter Gordon & The Stooges: Raw Blow Power
by Glenn Astarita
Imagine a Detroit dive bar in 1969, where the feral howl of The Stooges collides with the towering tenor of Dexter Gordon in a haze of sweat, distortion, and cigarette smoke. Raw Blow Power, released on the FuzzTone rock label, is that feverish hallucination brought to life--a snarling, swinging beast of an album that fuses proto-punk savagery with hard bop finesse. The story goes that someone taped this lost session in a single booze-soaked night at the Grande ...
Continue ReadingGravity and Resurgence: The Many Dimensions of Dexter Gordon
by Arthur R George
Long Tall Dexter; swinger, bebopper, saxophone balladeer; acting the dissipated genius expatriate who was not unlike himself in the movie Round Midnight; his dressed-up persona “Society Red;" the laconic elder statesman of his later years. Dexter Gordon is all those things, but more than a kaleidoscope of caricatures. Those who trace their lineages through Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane and beyond contain within them the earlier influence of Dexter Gordon. Joshua Redman, among contemporary players, attributes his robust ...
Continue ReadingOur Man in Paris: An American Travelogue
by David Brown
For this week's show, let's travel to Europe with a variety of American artists performing in France, recording for French film soundtracks, and collaborating with French artists. Etes-vous prêt? Co-hosted by Lisa Jo Epstein. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 06:10 Sidney Bechet “Ooh Boogie!" from Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers (Esquire) 03:00 Les Double Six “Naima" from Les Double Six (RCA Victor) 05:55 Dexter Gordon “Scraple from the Apple" ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: The Birth of Bop
by Richard J Salvucci
Someone famously called jazz the sound of surprise, but all too often, what is on offer is the dull hum of routine. Or something like that. This historic reissue is, however, anything but routine. This is not the first time that Teddy Reig's Savoy sides have been reissued (was he also the mysterious Buck Ram listed as producing one track?), but Craft Recordings took a lot of trouble to produce this very fine selection. If a listener were, ...
Continue ReadingDexter Gordon - Sophisticated Giant. La biografia del grande sassofonista
by Angelo Leonardi
Dexter Gordon—Sophisticated Giant Maxine Gordon 294 pagine ISBN: # 9788859257523 EDT 2019 Questa splendida biografia di Dexter Gordon è in circolazione da un po' ma resta attuale come ogni classico: è infatti uno dei migliori (e appassionanti) esempi di letteratura jazzistica. Nessuno, meglio dell'ultima moglie Maxine, poteva delineare la figura artistica e le vicende umane (spesso ignote) del grande sassofonista inserendole nel grande affresco storico e sociale del jazz moderno.
Continue ReadingThe Return of Dexter Gordon (1961 - 1963)
by Russell Perry
After spending most of the 1950s in jail for two different drug busts, Dexter Gordon was paroled in 1960 and preceded to record a legendary series of records for Blue Note Records. Several of these records included rhythm sections led by the light-fingered but short-lived pianist, Sonny Clark. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Dexter Gordon Quintet. “I Was Doing All Right" from Doin' Allright (Blue Note) 3:40 Dexter Gordon Quintet. “You've Changed" from Doin' Allright (Blue Note) 12:57 Host ...
Continue ReadingJazz on Central Avenue - Bebop in Los Angeles (1945 - 1948)
by Russell Perry
Most of the pioneering bebop musicians we have featured in the past several programs were based in New York—Bird, Dizzy, Monk, Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson, Max Roach. While New York may have dominated the modern music scene, it wasn't the only scene. The wartime economy in southern California brought an influx of African-American workers, not dissimilar to Chicago in the 1920s, and with them musicians, nightclubs and dance halls. “Bebop was born in Harlem ...
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