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Dexter Gordon: Europe
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The late Dexter Gordon was one of the momentous jazz instrumentalists. A decent happy hour this, for the many people without the time or resources to explore the many, many hours of music this physical and musical giant recorded. It all comes from his last years, when following a long sojourn in Europe, notably Copenhagen, he moved back to North America for his last years.
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In 1960, Gordon became involved in the West Coast version of Jack Gelber’s play The Connection. Gordon composed music for the play, led the musical quartet that played onstage, and had a speaking role in the play itself. Interestingly, the East Coast version had featured music by pianist Freddie Redd, and the album, recently reissued by Blue Note as part of its Connoisseur Series... features young alto saxophonist Jackie MacLean. By the following year, Gordon had become one of a rapidly growing number of American expatriate jazz artists living and working in Europe. It is often made to sound as though Europe was a land of unlimited opportunity for jazz musicians at this time, a place where their race didn’t matter and jobs were plentiful. This idyllic picture is not quite accurate, however.
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After this appearance, Gordon recorded several more albums that proved he was as good if not better than before his years in Europe, and he finally gained appreciation as one of the great jazz tenors. The increased attention that he received because of Columbia Records promotions has been seen as a turning point in jazz because they focused on acoustic jazz rather than the commercial cross-over styles which had been heavily promoted during the first part of the 1970s.
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