Recorded in Paris with fellow expatriates Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke, this effort captures Dexter Gordon at his most powerful, mature, free, and inventive. By 1963, he'd picked up a few tricks from Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, two legends who Gordon himself had greatly influenced in the 1940s. Gordon's playing now included honks and squeaks, but most significantly, it had a bluntness to it--blunt in terms of direct communication, but also blunt and sawed-off rather than sharp and round. It had an element of "flatness" to it, almost sounding as if he was ever-so-slightly off key.
"Scrapple from the Apple" shows off the full range of his powers-- at times lyrical, bluesy, quirky, and potent. The sultry lines of "Willow Weep for Me" conjure up images of the prototypical smoky bar. His playing is deliberate yet also fluid, perhaps because he fused the harmonies of bop with the tempo and phrasing of swing. Gordon also displays a keen sense of humor, offering quotes ranging from "Summertime" to "Round the Mulberry Bush." Powell, apparently a last-minute replacement for Kenny Drew, had lost a step by 1963, but in this case, his sparseness contrasts perfectly with Gordon's fierce excursions.
On the celebratory "Broadway," Gordon stretches the song's boundaries, soaring and urgent in one spot, squawking in others. He'd mastered the technique of creating and releasing tension in his solos: On "Broadway," he repeats the root B flat roughly 20 times (even as the tune shifts from verse to bridge behind him) before a wonderfully fluid resolution. Powell contributes a stately solo to the ballad "Stairway to the Stars" while Gordon lets his thick and warm tone do all the work for him. However, it's "A Night in Tunisia" that represents the high point. Gordon is at his freest and most "modern," attacking the song with incredible intensity rather than embracing the song as he did on "Stairway..." He generates sounds rarely, if ever, heard on a tenor saxophone, and a remarkable cadenza continues to fuel the fire until the very last note.
If you like Dexter Gordon, check out:
Wardell Gray Memorial
Dexter Gordon A Swingin' Affair
Dexter Gordon Dexter Calling
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