Jazz Articles about Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon: Tangerine

by Derek Taylor
June 1, 2000

There is no shortage of Dexter Gordon sessions available on disc. Even with sporadic absences from recording Long Tall Dex still managed to cut a mammoth number of records during his illustrious career. With so much available there’s bound to be a continuum when it comes to quality. While this disc isn’t a classic on par with say much of his Blue Note work it still offers up immediate proof of why he resides in the upper echelon of the ...

Dexter Gordon: Tangerine

by Glenn Astarita
June 1, 2000

As a young teen in the early 70’s, my audiophile-jazz enthusiast father figured the timing was right for me to diversify my listening habits by donating saxophonist Dexter Gordon’s 1975 release, Tangerine to my then – sparse but growing LP collection.. Yes, there was life after Hendrix, “The Who” and “The Rolling Stones”!

Featuring bass hero Stanley Clarke, trumpeter-flugelhornist-bandleader Thad Jones and his equally prolific brother, pianist Hank Jones along with the impeccable Louis Hayes manning the drums, Tangerine while ...

The Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note Editions

by Gaylord Smith
June 1, 1999

"The RVG Editions," the Blue Note series in which famed recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder revisits and remasters 24 of the label's classic, best-selling titles, is probably more a clever marketing ploy than a redefinition of musical art.This is, of course, not such a bad thing. Newbies need to know that there is music of this quality available. And they need to know that jazz didn't start with Wynton Marsalis--or Kenny G. They can discover some of the ...

Dexter Gordon and Junior Mance: Dexter Gordon with Junior Mance at Montreux

by C. Michael Bailey
May 1, 1999

An Impulse Buy. I was not shopping for a jazz disc at all. In fact I was only passing through on my way to the classical section when I came upon Dexter Gordon with Junior Mance at Montreux. It was really Junior Mance's name that jumped out at me. Mance belongs to a group of gospel/blues based pianists that includes Gene Harris and Monty Alexander and whose playing has always appealed to me. The strength of both Gordon’s and Mance’s ...

Dexter Gordon: Ca'Purange

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 1999

At this time, Dexter was living in Paris. When he came to the States, Prestige would record him, part of a deal that would end in the early ‘Seventies. This one, from 1972, features an all-star band (including a fresh-faced Stanley Clarke) who challenge Dexter and benefit from his interplay. This one takes a little while to hit its stride, but when it does, you’ll probably find something you like.

“Ca’Purnage” is best know for the Gene Ammons version, where ...

Dexter Gordon: The Squirrel

by Joel Roberts
September 1, 1997

This never-before-released live recording, taped by Danish radio during an engagement by Gordon and his quartet at Copenhagen's Jazzhaus Montmartre in the summer of 1967, captures the great tenor saxophonist at his most boisterous mid-60s peak. To hear Dexter Gordon live in this period is to hear one of the most powerful instrumentalists in jazz at the very top of his form.

On four extended numbers, clocking in at between twelve and twenty minutes, Gordon plays fast, furious and remarkably ...

Dexter Gordon: Doin' Allright

by Jim Santella
March 1, 1997

Dexter Gordon played smooth jazz before that description took on a whole new meaning. Coming up from the Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins tradition, and playing an active role in the start of bebop, Gordon spent a long, albeit interrupted, career keeping his popular tenor saxophone voice before the jazz public. In May of 1961, when this session took place, Freddie Hubbard had recently signed with Blue Note and had just begun his stay with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

This ...