Customer Reviews

Settin' the Pace (Mini Lp Sleeve)

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As I parse through this collection I am amazed that Proper was able to compile such a complete collection surveying the early years of Dexter Gordon. It's all here, the historic Savoy sides that Dexter led between 1945 through 1947 which include a stellar cast of sidemen such as Bud Powell, Max Roach, Fats Navarro and Leo Parker. There is also the historic Dial sides w/ Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards that produced tracks like "The Chase" (w/ Gray), and "The Duel" (w/ Edwards). A set containing the Savoy and Dial sides would be fantastic on it's own but Proper has also included a number of other tracks of Dexter featured with the Billy Eckstine Band, Dizzy Gillespie's Sextet, Red Norvo, and Benny Carter's band. Also included is the historic 9/4/45 date led by Sir Charles Thompson for the Apollo label that also featured Charlie Parker! And if that wasn't enough there are 5 lenghty tracks recorded on 7/6/47 at the Elk's Auditorium in Los Angeles and billed as the "Hollywood Jazz Concert". These tracks include Howard McGhee, Trummy Young, Sonny Criss, Wardell Gray, Hampton Hawes, and Barney Kessel and although the sound is not superb on the live tracks, the performances are excellent and give the listener an inside look at what the Central Avenue scene must have been like in the mid to late 1940s.

All in all this collection is an excellent compilation of one of the true greats of modern jazz.

The kings of bop were Dizzy and Bird - on trumpet and alto, and there were Bud Powell, Monk, Kenny Clarke and Max Roach on piano and drums. It may be true that the tenor sax is just not suitable for bebop, just as the soprano sax is certainly not - but for other reasons. The tenor sound is just too big for the fast flurry of arpeggio notes, that is part of bop playing.
Dexter Gordon was one tenor player who managed to excell playing bebop without loosing any of the sound qualities of his instrument. His deep and elastic sound was part of the great tenor tradition, yet perfectly modern. I am convinced that the evolution of Sonny Rolling, Joe Henderson and John Coltrane, could not have been what it was without the influence of Dexter's sound.
It is interesting to compare Gordon with the great Wardell Gray, who is co featured on many tracks - especially the third cd. Gray's harmonic ideas were modern - but rhythmically he was part of the older tradition.

These recordings, spanning an era between 1943 and 1950, are crucial to the development of bop tenor saxophone playing. They contain exciting live jam session recordings as well as studio recording, and great playing from all musicians involved - Fats Navarro, Gray, Teddy Edwards, Howard Mcgee, Leo parker, and of course Dexter Gordon himself. I recommend the four CD package to anyone interested in the tenor sax and in bebop.

Over 70 minutes of finely recorded bop and blues by tenorist extraordinaire Dexter Gordon. His full beautiful tone is both relaxing and exhilarating. These recordings are from 3 dates for Savoy in 1945-1947. (The CD notes that this is not a thorough collection of EVERY track cut for Savoy, alternative takes from two sessions are not included. Only Dexter "completists" should be concerned.)

Of the 23 selections, 11 include either Max Roach or Art Blakey on drums. Fats Navarro brings his wonderfully rounded sound to six cuts recorded in 1947, and Tadd Dameron plays piano on eleven. What's surprising, however, is not the great playing of the jazz legends here, but the work of not as celebrated musicians such as Leo Parker on baritone sax and Sadik Hakim on piano. This is great bop playing which will get you moving!

dexter had his share of problems -- drug arrests kept him out of circulation for 10 years, and he was celebrated for his comeback and his role in "'round midnight." but if you want his young, unvarnished, revolutionary sound, this is the place to go. young dexter is working through the fast, fresh changes of bebop on the tenor saxophone, at a pace that no one thought a horn deeper than an alto could handle. "long tall dexter" is a remake of charlie parker's "now's the time;" "i can't escape from you," is an uncommonly mature treatment of a ballad; "dexter digs in" -- all three takes -- is full of restless energy and power. for dexter, this is his armstrong's "hot fives," monk's blue note; bird's savoy and dial. it doesn't get 5 stars because i'm a tough grader.

This set contains four discs packed with the best of Dexter Gordon's 1940s output. That is, the best of the best. Dexter made great recordings in several eras, but none had the crackling excitement of this period.

This set contains about all anyone reasonably needs from the period, including full length versions of records such as The Hunt and The Chase that inspired and were written about by the Beats such as Kerouac. Yet, it's not one of those collections that purports to be "scholarly" and ends up being more scholarly than enjoyable because it's loaded with incomplete and alternate takes of the same tune. This is a collection you can listen to in its entirety, and will want to replay, not embalm.

The sound is very acceptable for the time period. I have some of this material on a quality early-80s vinyl reissue and the CDs sound better. Like the other Proper Boxes I've bought, the production quality is quite high for the money.

... were not politicians or generals! They were jazz musicians, and among them few if any were greater than tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. Dex was born in Los Angeles in 1923. He started 'setting the pace' in the last years of the '30s, in the big bands of nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, and especially the singer Billy Eckstine. His heyday came in the be-bop 1940s, when he shared the stage with Charlie Parker. Dex is often credited with being the 'seminal' be-bop performer on the tenor sax. The four CDs in this super-bargain package include most of his best recording sessions from 1943 to 1950. In addition to the players already mentioned, you'll hear Gordon alongsdied Bennry carter, Bud Powell, Wardell Gray, Howard McGhee, Errol Garner, Fats Navarro, Clark Terry, and lots of lesser-knowns, including trombonist Melba Liston, one of the few female jazz arrangers and instrumentalists of the era. The 1950s were mostly grim for Dexter Gordon; he was busted again and again for drug use and spent several terms in ever-nastier prisons. In 1962, he left the USA to perform in London; he spent the following 15 years living chiefly in Denmark and performing to great acclaim. In 1986, he acted the role of the drug-addicted jazzman in Bernard Tavernier's magnificent film "Round Midnight", the best film ever made about jazz. Gordon was Oscar-nominated for "Best Actor" but lost out to Paul Newman. He died in 1990.

Dexter was both a great front man soloist and a great side man. If he'd been a basketball player, he'd have lead the league in assists. You'll hear him in both roles on these four CDs. His own compositions turn up also; disk 2 includes his most famous track, the saxophone duel called "The Chase", followed immediately by "Chromatic Aberration", a classic-that-should-have-been.

Just as the 18th Century was the zenith of music in European history, the decade of the 1940s was the zenith of jazz, and for basically the same reason: musical and emotional intelligence, encouraged by the patronage of an audience, however restricted, that was capable of appreciating the genius of its musicians. Yes, of course, jazz didn't end with the repressive '50s. There have been greats aplenty in more recent decades, but never in the concentrated splendor of be-bop.