Album Reviews

Dexter Calling , recorded May, 9th, 1961, just a few days after Gordon’s Blue Note debut session, opens with “Soul Sister,” a “chicken and biscuits” track the tenor saxophonist wrote for the West Coast edition of “The Connection,” which Freddie Redd had scored for the East Coast original. The tune’s slow, bluesy, Southern-tinged melody, played in ¾ waltz-time sounds like something Floridian Cannonball Adderley might have penned though Gordon grew up in Los Angeles, son of a prominent physician who tended to the likes of Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.

Gordon’s long career, which began with a 1940 bus tour stint with Hamp’s big band before he’d graduated from high school and included a Riverside session produced at Adderley’s behest, after his parole following a two year sentence at Chino state for a heroin possession bust, includes collaborations with a dazzling roster of jazz greats.

Here, he leads the stellar rhythm section of Kenny Drew on piano, Philly Joe Jones on drums and Paul Chambers on bass—all of whom had worked for Miles Davis, another son of a medical professional (Miles’s dad was a dentist).

While the opener’s melody sounds shop worn today, the song takes off and the magic is revealed when Gordon blows the session wide open in 4/4 before the tune returns to the ¾ theme for the closer.

The real business gets going on the Drew original “Modal Mood.” The nimble-fingered classically trained pianist takes it out at a fast pace and everyone contributes some great moments.

“I Want More,” also written for the West Coast edition of “The Connection” has Gordon out front blowing cool, in charge riffs that epitomize the Blue Note vibe though it’s only his second BN session. Given what the “more” is, Gordon brings firsthand knowledge to the composition.

The group takes the Sinatra favorite “End of a Love Affair,” (words by Billie Holiday, which of course you don’t get here) out at an appropriately wistful pace until Gordon launches it into an exuberant excursion tinged with sadness and regret before returning to the fluid melody line.

Drew’s uptempo “Clear the Dex,” clears the sadness and gives everyone a chance to unwind full speed ahead, especially “Dex,” who delivers big, long, tuneful, deep-throated blasts and Chambers, whose juicy bowed bass covers a lot of musical ground.

That’s followed by the melancholic ballad “Ernie,” another “The Connection” original with Gordon setting an unshakable mood that the others follow sympathetically, while remaining respectfully in the backdrop.

The session ends with Charlie Chaplin’s syrupy “Smile,” from his classic comedy “Modern Times.” In Gordon’s hands the tune takes on a welcomed harder edge, particularly when he breaks away from the melody. As the song winds down, his abrupt return to the familiar tune has an almost comical, resignation.

While Go is the Gordon Blue Note crowd pleasure, Dexter Calling remains a top choice in the Gordon Blue Note catalog, built upon a successful session where the chemistry clicked and everyone was tuned to the same station on the musical dial.

Rudy Van Gelder’s recording that day was top notch as well, though with a few odd blips. Rudy held back on the reverb, giving everyone a welcomed immediacy. Gordon’s tone, particularly at the bottom, is big enough without echo augmentation. The boxy piano sound Rudy often got is hardly in evidence here. Van Gelder gives the session leader the entire left speaker, Drew the center and Philly Joe and Chambers the right.

You’ll enjoy everything about the music and the sound of this Blue Note classic, superbly mastered by the Gray/Hoffman team and not for a second will you doubt the wisdom of dropping fifty big ones for Dexter Calling. You could pay that much for a second or third pressing and it wouldn’t sound as good as this, though you’d be getting up less often to change sides. Big deal. Most of us can use the exercise