Complete Kenny Drew & Carl Perkins Sessions [Extra tracks, Import]

Dexter Gordon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 15, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Lonehill Jazz Spain
• ASIN: B00065EBL8
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,989 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Daddy Plays the Horn

2. Confirmation

3. Darn That Dream

4. Number Four

5. Autumn in New York

6. You Can Depend on Me

7. Cry Me a River

8. Don't Worry About Me

9. I Hear Music

10. I Should Care

11. Blowin' for Dootsie

12. Tenderly

13. Rhythm Mad [*]

14. Bonna Rue [*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mid-fifties beauty, December 20, 2005

By 

John C. Graham (toronto, ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Kenny Drew & Carl Perkins Sessions (Audio CD)

Two quartet sessions recorded in Hollywood, September and November of 1955. The first session has Kenny Drew on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Lawrence Marable on drums. The second has Carl Perkins on piano, Leroy Vinnagar back on bass, and Chuck Thompson on drums. There are also two bonus tracks with the second quartet plus Jimmy Robinson on trumpet bringing the total time to 76:25. Sound quality is excellent!
Dexter sounds beautiful throughout and both rhythm sections are supportive and prodding, creating a swinging terrain that is felt on all the tunes. From the opening number on, it is clear that Dexter made the most of these small label opportunities. He was heroin addicted and was soon to be incarcerated but that has no impact on the brilliance of the music. It wasn't until the early sixties that Dexter recorded again and all jazz buffs know about Dexter's Blue Note tenure.
Dexter had already made his mark as the tenor player with an endlessly inventive imagination. The late forties had been a fertile period of jamming and gigging. Most of the fifties were wasted dealing with drug addiction and jail. Despite his heavy habit, these sides from 1955 are outstanding in every way and deserve to be in your collection. Easily recommended

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another High Five for Carl., March 6, 2007

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Complete Kenny Drew & Carl Perkins Sessions (Audio CD)

Contrary to some perceptions of Dexter's career, he was not strung out and wasted throughout the 1950s, as this double-session CD makes abundantly clear. The first session is "Daddy Plays the Horn" (Bethlehem), which I already owned, but the prospect of acquiring another precious recording by the underrated, underrecorded pianist, Carl Perkins, proved irresistible. The playing of Kenny Drew, while familiar, is at its characteristically best, backed up by an especially hard-swinging, straight-ahead rhythm section (Leroy Vinnegar and Lawrence Marable). The audio, moreover, is a refreshing change from some of his "enhanced" Blue Note recordings, with more "natural," drier piano sonorities, and the bass "definition" characteristic of '50s recordings is a welcome relief from the boomy, undefined bottom-heavy sounds of most recent recordings.

Perkins has to limit his style, employing a leaner than customary approach, in this mainstream bop session, while the sound of his piano lacks some of the resonance of his Contemporary dates with Curtis Counce. Nevertheless, his is as inimitable, identifiable, lyrical a voice with as warm, embracing a sound as you'll hear from virtually any other pianist. And he remains the one modernist who inventively incorporates (rather than impersonates) the piano style of Erroll Garner.

Even though the audio on this Spanish import is nothing special, I wish I could find a recording of Dexter's "Our Man in Paris" that could match it.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Dexter & Company!, August 1, 2010

By 

Gregory E. Cooper "Mr. Jazz-Man" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Complete Kenny Drew & Carl Perkins Sessions (Audio CD)

Very nice early Dexter Gordon with Kenny Drew & Carl Perkins. One can listen to it straight or on random sequence and the album will take the listener to a very nice peak of Jazz sensibility. You can play it many times over and it still sounds as fresh as the first pressing. It's well balanced between the artists and they all give a great showing without being overbearing. Enjoy!