Customer Reviews

Homecoming

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dexter Gordon truly made a triumphant return to the United States with his engagement at New York's storied Village Vanguard in 1976. Sweeping into town, he didn't even have his own working band yet, and thus enlisted the band led by Woody Shaw as illustrious sidemen. The chance to hear Woody Shaw stretch out in a live setting is justification alone for grabbing this set, but of course Long Tall Dexter is the centerpiece (towering pillar!) of this magnificent live document.

The band stretches out on a fine mix of originals by Shaw, pianist Ronnie Matthews, and Gordon as well as standards such as "Gingerbread Boy" and "Body and Soul," and my favorite Dexter piece, "It's You or No One." Throughout, Dexter schools the audience in regal bop with his magesterial tone and delivery, often punctuated by Shaw's ringing open horn. The combination is sublime.

Dexter truly runs the gamut from classicism to modernism throughout the well-paced program, demonstrating that he wasn't just hiding away in Europe during all those years abroad and that he was once again ready to put his stamp on the way the tenor sax is played. In this way, this set is somewhat similar to Art Pepper's Village Vanguard set in that both musicians demonstrated relatively late in their careers how they had not only created distinctive signatures on their horns but had further distilled the developments of the past decades (i.e. Coltrane) into an even more modern, yet distinctive voice.

My major quibble with this particular set on CD is the terrible digital transfer. I own this volume on vinyl as well, and although I am no vinyl weenie it is painfully obvious that this particular CD transfer suffers from greatly reduced warmth. The wood sound of the bass and resonance of Dexter's low notes were captured beautifully on the original recording, but have completely disappeared from the CD edition. The music is still great, but it's due time for a proper remastering of this timeless masterpiece.

The return of Dexter Gordon to NY created a massive amount of excitement at the time. Keep in mind, jazz had been almost completely eclipsed as popular music in 1976, with punk rock brewing, prog-rock still in full flower, soul still silky and fusion the dominant "jazz" form. Yet, Gordon's comeback to the United States was hotly welcomed and a slew of sellout shows ensued. Somebody knew what they were doing getting these sets down on tape because they are nothing short of volcanic, majestic, towering blowing. Each piece is long and joyful. There is no stridency in the ideas, but rather they roil with passion, invention, DEXterity and, best of all, good humor. Who does not smile when Gordon begins, out of nowhere, blowing "Here Comes the Bride"? Trumpeter Woody Shaw's group at the time was a wonder, rhythmically coiled and yet generously expansive. This is everything you want in a modern jazz blowing session. I find it disappointing that "Homecoming" languishes in the pantheon of Dexter Gordon albums, indeed that even after Clint Eastwood got a hold of him, Dexter languishes at all. I promise you, good listener, this is the finest document of the tenor man's work available. And p.s. to an earlier reviewer, one moment you promise you are not a "vinyl weenie" and the next you badmouth the quality of the digital reproduction. Why not just be a vinyl weenie and listen to the music the way it sounds best? When vinyl was dominant, no one listening to it was called a weenie; they were called people who listened to records. So, why, now that vinyl -- a superior format -- has been railroaded out of the mainstream are the people who haven't bought the bill of goods sold by the record industry weenies? I love my CD player and there are some CDs that sound great, but vinyl still has a home in my home.

It's doubtful you can have too many recorded versions of "Body and Soul," now that we know it's become the most recorded standard of all time, with the 2008 first-time release of a late Sinatra version helping perpetuate the song's claim to immortality. Dexter's version on "Homecoming" is, I'm quite sure, the one recently transcribed by Kurt Elling ("Nightmoves"). To my ears, it sounds more extemporaneous and serendipitous than the one on the later "Mahattan Symphonie," by which time it was beginning to become a sort of "set-piece" for Dexter and his personal rhythm section. Picking up on some of the harmonic substitutions and double-timed sections in Coltrane's recorded version of the tune, Dexter took it further, creating a "Body and Soul" that was equal parts of both--earthy firepower and inspired hymn. But no tracking of Dexter's long affair with the tune is complete without listening to his studio version on "The Panther" which, thanks in great part to the exquisite playing of Tommy Flanagan, maintains a lower flame without lessening the intensity.

This recording was made after Dexter returned from a number of years living overseas. It is obvious that he wanted to be at the the top of his game when he returned home.

The opening track is the definition of how to play a blues solo. Dexter stretches out over 12 choruses and uses his characteristic melodic quotes, bebop lines, and swing era rhythmic energy.

On a personal note, this is the recording that got me really excited about jazz when I was in junior high. Although I had been interested before, it was after listening to this record that I decided that this is what I really want to do. This was also the first solo I transcribed, and I learned a great deal in the process.

This is Dexter at his peak. Recorded when he returned to the US after more than a decade of self-imposed exile, it is just as fresh and straight-ahead now as before. George Cables on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, clubby audience at the Vanguard, it is a slice of time. I've owned the LP since its release but have less occasion now to drag out the vinyl, so I'll have to treat myself to the CD.