AOTW - Aug 20-26

[allblues]

I'm surprised that Dex hasn't been the subject of an AOTW before. This is my first time to select, and I decided on two related albums recently mentioned in the 2 LPs on 1 CD thread. They do in fact show up on the same disc in the Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions.

Recorded two days apart (August 27 and 29, 1962) with the same personnel, Go! (now BN 98794) and A Swingin' Affair (BN 37754) are from the middle of his Blue Note run in the '60s. The material includes the originals, Cheese Cake, McSplivens, and the Latin-inflected Soy Califa as well as Billie Holiday's Don't Explain, Cole Porter's Love for Sale, and Jule Styne's I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.

Go! was reportedly Dex's own BN favorite, and it's certainly mine with A Swingin' Affair not far behind. Through the years, these are the DG albums I keep returning to. Every note is exactly where it should be. I've always liked Dex best in a quartet setting, and what a quartet this is! Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Very sympathetic support for a giant at the height of his creative powers.

Although these albums probably aren't new to most of you, they definitely deserve repeated listenings. Whether you're heard them one time or a thousand, give them a spin this week.

[Dan Gould]

Although these albums probably aren't new to most of you, they definitely deserve repeated listenings. Whether you're heard them one time or a thousand, give them a spin this week.

Will do!

Finally, an AOTW I own.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yeah, I love these Dex LPs (but still not got them on CD). And, since you so charmingly insist, I'll get them out this week and treat myself to another listen.

MG

[kinuta]

Oddly enough I played 'Go' & ' A Swingin' Affair ' just the other day. They are both great sessions .

This week I'll spin 'Doin' Alright' , 'Dexter Calling' and 'Gettin' Around', truncated consonants and all.

[Dan Gould]

First of all, without going back through that long Dexter thread, I am curious whether Allen Lowe considers either one of these records to be examples of Dex on a good day, or if he hears inebriation or chemical alteration here, too.

I think what stood out to me when I first heard these in the late 80s was the ballads. The way Dex caresses those melodies is just sublime and I think these two albums helped me to recognize Dex as a favorite ballad player.

Both are classic albums and worthy of desert island status, but if I were forced to choose between the two, I think I go with Swingin' Affair, with the deciding factor being that, the ballads being equally sublime, I prefer the uptempo originals, particularly "Soy Califa" and "McSplivens". Strange, I know, since I do love "Cheesecake" and "Second Balcony Jump" so much.

Really, these two sessions need to be burned to a CD so I don't have to make that desert island decision.

[Stereojack]

These are magnificent records, dear old friends around here. I'm not gonna pick one over the other, but Dexter's version of "I Guess I'll Hang my Tears Out To Dry" is on my (mental) list of all time greatest tracks.

[Guy Berger]

I like Go a lot, but haven't heard the other album.

Guy

[etherbored]

i *love* the beginning of "soy califa", the opener on "a swingin' affair"! it never fails to put me in a good mood. i give the edge to this record over "go!", but only by the most narrow of margins.

"gettin' around", from 1965 (3 years later), however is probably my favorite blue note.

-e-

[The Rep]

I also think Go is one of Dexters best albums, I don't have A Swinging Affair but will put that right soon. Although he is known as a tenor man I am sure I have an album where he plays soprano sax. The two albums I tend to play a lot are Gettin Around and Our Man In Paris. Good AOTW.

[JSngry]

Guess I'm in the minority here. but for me, Go! is a stone classic and A Swingin' Affair is one that never quite gets off the ground and goes flying like the other one. I've tried for years to reconcile/correct that, but to no avail.

[Soulstation1]

GO was my first DG cd....

[(BB)]

I had listened to other jazz before, but GO! was my first love. It seems when I put this record on I find myself listening to the sound of his horn first and foremost. I can’t explain it any better than to say I can get lost in it. In my head Dexter is just leaning back telling his story, no hurry, no hassle. The other lp that hits me in the same way is Ben Webster – Did You Call? Sometimes a little reminder to kick-back and just be is exactly what I need. Of the handful of other Dexter records I have nothing comes close to hitting me the way this one does, don’t know why and I’m not really worried about it.

Bill

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Although he is known as a tenor man I am sure I have an album where he plays soprano sax.

Are you thinking of "American classic", in which Grover Washington plays soprano?

MG

[JSngry]

Dexter played soprano on Sophisticated Giant, the 1977 Who's Who In Jazz date w/Lionel Hampton, & The Other Side of Round Midnight. There might have been others.

[Jim R]

Dexter played soprano on Sophisticated Giant, the 1977 Who's Who In Jazz date w/Lionel Hampton, & The Other Side of Round Midnight. There might have been others.

... for starters (I still have never gotten around to fully researching this) add: "Stable Mable", "Strings & Things", and "More Than You Know" (all on Steeplechase). There are also a number of private recordings and radio broadcasts listed in Sjøgren where he used the soprano.

Oh, and don't believe it until you hear it for yourself. I've seen several of Dexter's discs erroneously described online where he is listed as having used the ss. Even the Steeplechase website has a goof: Loose Walk info

Edited August 21, 2006 by Jim R

[B. Goren.]

I always preferred DG's BN recordings over his Steeplechase & Prestige. Go! Is definitely one of BN best. Our Man in Paris is another favorite of mine so I'll give both of them a spin this weekend.

[BruceH]

"Go!" remains one of my favorite Blue Note albums, as well as my favorite Dex. Strangely, while I like A Swingin' Affair, and it's got the same personal and recorded only days apart, I've always felt it somehow didn't have the same magic as Go!----but I'll take this oppurtunity to play it again.

[Kyo]

Somehow I missed this thread until now. Great choice(s) there! I have to admit that I had owned Go! for years (and actually sold it at one point) before finally "getting" it. A few months ago I was listening to a lot of George Cables and ended up discovering both Art Pepper and late Dexter in the process - Manhattan Symphonie was the Dexter album that got me into his music big time. Right now I'm just missing very few individual sessions and the Steeplechase stuff (which is a lot, but I don't want to buy any individual discs - still trying to find that box set for a good price).

Edited August 29, 2006 by Kyo

[medjuck]

I bought my first copy of GO! in 1964 in Denmark from an attractive girl who had "moved on" from Dexter to Ornette! You don't meet many girls like that. I liked it a lot but after not playing it for a decade or so I couldn't place "Cheesecake" when it kept poppng up in my head. Then I got s Bluenote sampler called

"3 Tenors". (a title I thought was very clever.)They were Dexter, Trane and (I think) Hank. It had Cheesecake on it and I was finally able to name that tune that had been haunting me for years.

I didn't realize that "A Swinging Affair" was virtually part of the same session, but I get the impression from some comments here that I don't really need to get it.

BTW What do people think of the RVG edition of "Go!"?

[Dan Gould]

I didn't realize that "A Swinging Affair" was virtually part of the same session, but I get the impression from some comments here that I don't really need to get it.

BTW What do people think of the RVG edition of "Go!"?

The RVG is an improvement.

I wouldn't dismiss "A Swingin' Affair" too readily.

[mikeweil]

I always thought these two belonged closely together, and wondered why they hadn't been reissued as two LPs on one CD - they are on the same disc of the Dexter Blue Note box set, and it works very well.

Dex sounds very relaxed on these, and almost exuberant, perhaps the upcoming trip to Europe uplifted his spirits, especially after the recent loss of his friend Leo Parker, with whom he was to record - but Leo died shortly before the session, and the results without him sound overshadowed by the loss of his room mate of the Eckstine band (these are the tracks released later in the Blue Note Classics series).

With an excellent rhythm section, he sounds as inspired as can be. First choice Dexter, I'd say.

[Big Al]

Yet another AOTW I'm floatin' to the surface:

I didn't realize that "A Swinging Affair" was virtually part of the same session, but I get the impression from some comments here that I don't really need to get it.

BTW What do people think of the RVG edition of "Go!"?

The RVG is an improvement.

I wouldn't dismiss "A Swingin' Affair" too readily.

No kidding! Count me in as another who prefers Swingin' to Go! But not by much! "Soy Califa" gives it the edge simply because it sets the tempo for the album, which never lets up!

Have to disagree about the RVG remastering, but then I've never heard the McMaster. The RVG sounds awfully harsh and bright to these ears. Seems strange to me, cuz the RVG for Swingin' is warm and easy on the ears.

[ejp626]

Not sure if this should go here or elsewhere. Anyway, after listening to some Bud Powell on BN and Verve, I decided to break out Dexter's Our Man in Paris. So the story goes that Dexter had a handful of original tunes that he was going to record, assuming that Kenny Drew was the pianist, but they switched to standards when Powell filled in. Was there any word on whether Dexter eventually got around to recording his compositions (and what they were)? Enquiring minds want to know. One Flight Up seems to be the follow-up album with Drew on piano, but the original LP at any rate doesn't have any Gordon compositions. I suppose they might well have turned up on Steeplechase if at all.