CLEAR THE DEX:
A Look at the Career of Dexter Gordon through his major recording periods:
The Early Years & Daddy Plays the Horn, The Blue Note Years, The Prestige Years, Manhattan Symphonie & the return to the U.S.

by Marshall Bowden

Dexter Gordon’s career spanned the period from the birth of bebop through the golden period of American jazz in the 1950s and 1960s, a period of European exile in the 1970s and a triumphant return to the States in ’76, leading to a period of renewed interest in his playing that lasted until his death in 1990. One of a handful of tenor players who defined the instrument in the post-bop period (others include Johnny Griffin and Sonny Rollins), Gordon’s discography casts a long shadow over recorded jazz.

Gordon first turned professional in December of 1940, when he was offered a job with Lionel Hampton’s band. He left Hampton in 1943 and spent six months in 1944 touring with Louis Armstrong. He then was a member of Billy Eckstine’s band until 1945, when he began to establish himself in New York as a regular on 52nd Street. There he played in a group with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Curly Russell, and Max Roach. Gordon had a reputation for being smooth, even-tempered, and unflappable, as illustrated by the following story, recounted in Ira Gitler’s Masters of Bebop:

Gordon returned to L.A. (his birthplace) in the summer of 1946, carrying a boatload of experience and a heroin habit. He began to play in after hours and weekly jam sessions, and soon encountered one of the West Coast’s leading tenor players, Wardell Gray. The two would trade choruses in after hours sessions, and eventually began recording together, with “The Chase” becoming one of their best-known sessions. “Wardell was a very good saxophonist who knew his instrument very well,” Gordon once said. “His playing was very fluid, very clean. Although his sound wasn’t overwhelming, he always managed to make everything very interesting, very musical. I always enjoyed playing with him. He had a log of drive and a profusion of ideas. He was stimulating to me.” Gordon and Gray recorded several sides in 1946/47. Dexter returned to NYC, working for a time with Benny Goodman, then back to L.A. in 1949, at which time Gray was himself working in New York. The two revived their duetting sporadically from 1950 through 1952.

From 1953-54 Gordon was an inmate of Chino as a result of his heroin addiction. Gitler states that Gray was also addicted at this time. There are those who dispute this, but it does appear possible that Gray had fallen under the influence of narcotics. Gray still recorded occasionally and was playing with Benny Carter’s band in Las Vegas when he died under mysterious circumstances in 1955. Gordon had gotten out of Chino and went see Gray in L.A., only to discover that he had left for Vegas with Carter. Three days later he heard of Gray’s death.

In 1955, Gordon recorded for the first time in three years. He recorded two LPs for the Bethlehem label, including one with Stan Levey and one under his own name, Daddy Plays the Horn. He also recorded a session for the Dootone label, released as Dexter Blows Hot and Cool. As Gitler says “all…(of these recordings)…demonstrate Gordon’s quicksilver swing, his audacity in the upper register, his tonal power and the apt use he makes of inflection whenever he contrasts a sustained note with those complex, ellowing phrases he manages with so expert a sense of time.”

Recently reissued as part of Shout! Factory’s Bethlehem Jazz reissues, Daddy Plays the Horn is indeed a wonderful Gordon session, and one which shows him in transition from his earlier, strictly bebop playing. As Gitler suggests, all of the elements that have made Gordon one of the most influential post-bop tenorists are in place here, albeit without the maturity that Gordon’s later Blue Note and Prestige recordings would show. Still, Gordon, along with the accompanying combo (Kenny Drew/piano, Leroy Vinnegar/bass, and Larry Marable/drums) sound very comfortable, very relaxed here. Interestingly, it was drummer Marable who nicknamed fellow L.A.-based tenor saxophonist Harold Land ‘The Fox,’ which became the title of his most-revered album, recorded in 1959. This recording as well as Land’s help demonstrate the quality of music that was being played on the West Coast in the mid-50s. This important bop and post-bop period is largely forgotten, in part because some its best musicians were recorded infrequently. This was due to either a lack of name recognition, as in the case of Land, or personal difficulties, such as those Dexter Gordon was experiencing at this time.

In any case, Gordon is in excellent form on this date, and it is one well worth hearing for those who find that Gordon is their cup of tea. Kenny Drew, a disciple of Bud Powell (with whom Gordon also recorded) gives a great performance on this album, and is the main diversion from Gordon’s own playing, since Vinnegar and Marable are mainly employed as timekeepers and do little soloing. Gordon’s performance on the blues numbers, “Daddy Plays the Horn” and “Number Four” is ebullient and swinging. He tackles Bird’s “Confirmation,” and brings back echoes of his tenor battles with Wardell Gray, swinging in the Pres-influenced manner favored by Gray and Gordon in his young years. Drew again distinguishes himself with a blues and gospel influenced solo that presages hard bop while still offering a Powell-esque edge. On the ballads, “Darn that Dream” and “Autumn in New York,” Gordon is already demonstrating a very mature, melodic approach to ballads. In fact, it’s hard to believe that his ballad work acquired more and more depth throughout his career when one listens to “Autumn in New York.” A fast version of “You Can Depend on Me” rounds out the set with wonderful solos all round, and one feels very much like one has just heard a great set at a local club when the disc ends.

 

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