Dexter Gordon - The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions

Dexter Gordon The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions Recording 1961-1965 1996
Box 6 cd's

This six-CD set collects the towering tenor saxophonist's Blue Note recordings from 1961 to 1965--a period of high creativity in a long and diverse career that had begun in the bop revolution of the '40s. Throughout he is heard in the quartets and quintets that he preferred, playing with unique authority and sustained invention. The support is consistently strong and sometimes brilliant, including contributions from pianist Sonny Clark and drummer Philly Joe Jones. A Paris session with fellow bop pioneers Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke is a highlight. Gordon's music had continued to grow and develop into the '60s, and it's possible to hear touches of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane in his playing here, Gordon taking notes from musicians who had learned from him years before. The set includes alternate takes and recordings of Gordon's fascinating reminiscences. --Stuart Broomer


Personnel:
Dexter Gordon (tenor saxophone, spoken vocals);
Sonny Stitt (tenor saxophone);
Freddie Hubbard, Tommy Turrentine, Dave Burns, Donald Byrd (trumpet);
Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone);
Horace Parlan, Kenny Drew, Sir Charles Thompson, Sonny Clark, Bud Powell, Barry Harris (piano);
Don Patterson (organ);
Paul Weeden (guitar);
George Tucker, Paul Chambers, Al Lucas, Ron Carter, Butch Warren, Pierre Michelot, Neils-Henning Orsted Pederson, Bob Cranshaw (bass);
Al Harewood, Philly Joe Jones, Willie Bobo, Billy James, Billy Higgins, Kenny Clarke, Art Taylor (drums).
Producers: Alfred Lion, Francis Wolf.
Compilation producers: Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gordon.
Engineers include: Rudy Van Gelder, Malcolm Addey.
Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey between May 6, 1961 and May 29, 1965,
and CBS Studios, Paris, France on May 23, 1963 and June 2, 1964.

Includes liner notes by Dan Morgenstern, Bruce Lundvall, Maxine Gordon and Michael Cuscuna.
This is IT--the complete sessions of one of jazz's greatest tenor saxophonists for one of the world's premier jazz labels. During the flowering of bebop, Gordon was among the first sax players to translate Charlie Parker's ideas from the alto to the tenor. In the '60s, the sound had more of an edge--hence, hard bop--and Gordon was right there. Still, the man could deliver a ballad to melt the hardest of hearts. Witness his soloing on the ballad standard