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This being election season, it is only apt that I describe myself as a “swing voter” (pardon the double entendre) on the merits of
this 11-CD set. The pluses are many. Dexter Gordon himself is a giant, surely ‘electable.’ His ‘cabinet’ for these recordings include such stellar musicians as Wardell Gray (with the two assaying bebop from the tenor’s vantage, a place where Gordon was the preeminent pracittioner); hard-bop tenors James Moody and Booker Ervin;
the soulful master Gene Ammons; pianists of the order of Barry Harris, Bobby Timmons, Jaki Byard, Hank Jones, Junior Mance, Wynton Kelly, Cedar Walton and Hampton Hawes.
Indeed, just for hearing these sidemen, this boxed set is a must, a recapitulation of much of jazz’s second-tier history (by “second-tier,” I mean the men and women who were the guts of the music, playing session after session with impeccable skill even when they were pushed out of the limelight by the luminaries).
So why a hesitation to “vote” for this collection? It has 17 previously unissued takes, offerings that can only enhance its historic value. It spans a significant period of Gordon’s career — from the 1950 jam session with gray to a 1976 concert appearance. And it has personal favorites for this reviewer, in particular Gordon’s early Prestige two-tenor outings, Setting the Pace and Tower of Power (the first with Booker Ervin, the latter with James Moody).
Well, because too little of the music is innovative. It is jam after jam, Gordon playing in front of a rhythm section. It is this historic tenor without the inspiration he took from Trane. It is Gordon playing Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning” but taking out all of the angularity and replacing it with a simple, bluesy approach. Ultimately, it is Dexter Gordon as a jazz bar scene tenor — solid, even more than solid, but without the compelling authority or originality one heard on his Blue Note recordings, such as Our Man In Paris. But wait. When he pours his soul into a ballad, everything around me stops.
So yes, I’m a swing voter on this one.
~~~
Dexter Gordon: The Complete Prestige Recordings - 11-CD box set (Prestige)
Release Date:
12 October 2004
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last update 10 October 2004