Hot Ptah

Alaadeen has had a long career as outlined on his webpage. In the past 20 years in Kansas City, he has been a welcome fixture in the local scene. He was a key member of the City Lights Orchestra in the mid to late 1980s. This group featured Tim Whitmer on piano, Laverne Barker on bass and David Basse on drums/vocals. They released two albums (the first was praised by Gary Giddins in the Village Voice) and were a leading jazz group in Kansas City. They played a lot of swinging, accessible music, with their own spin on 1930s songs, and also played beautiful, lyrical jazz, more contemporary. Alaadeen has been featured with national jazz artists who have come to play in Kansas City. He has been the featured soloist with Jay McShann on several gigs over the years, playing then in a classic tenor sax swing style. He appears with his own group regularly. He is generally thought of as one of the leading players in Kansas City.

I see your point. My opinion only--Sonny tends to drop fragments of quotes into fevered improvisations in which the sparks are flying and you can hardly keep up with the quotes. When I saw Dexter, the quoted melodies were played more entirely, slowly, during a part of a solo in which not all that much was happening for the moment--the quotes stood out very vividly. Often people would audibly chuckle when Dexter played them. It's a matter of personal taste, but I thought that sometimes Dexter's use of quotes was different from that of many other musicians. Maybe others had different experiences with his playing. I hasten to add that I love his music and that the quotes did not significantly detract from the performances, for me.

I am looking for tapes of radio broadcasts of the Ann Arbor Jazz Festivals in 1978, 1979 and 1980. I had taped them off of the radio but a friend erased the tapes, not understanding what they were. The lineups: 1978: Mary Lou Williams, Max Roach Quartet, Stan Getz, Max Roach/Archie Shepp Duo, Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, Stanley Turrentine, Sun Ra, Marcus Belgrave and the II-V-I Orchestra, Chico Freeman, Hubert Laws, Ellington Orchestra, Mose Allison, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. 1979: Dexter Gordon, Sun Ra, Joseph Jarman/Don Moye Duo, Larry Coryell, Mingus Dynasty, McCoy Tyner 1980: Stephane Grappelli, Oregon, Anthony Braxton, Chico Freeman, Stanley Turrentine, Arthur Blythe, Sarah Vaughan

I saw Dexter several times in 1978--81. He always played quite well, with a great tone. I will say that some of his solos seemed to go on too long at times, and he would seem to "tread water" for a while until inspiration hit again. He would obviously drop quotes from other songs into his solos, not trying to disguise them as some artists do. His band was always very hot. Eddie Gladden swung his butt off every time. One of the most exciting things I have ever seen live was at the 1978 Ann Arbor Jazz Festival. Johnny Griffin played a great set with his quartet, then Dexter played with George Cables, Rufus Reid and Eddie Gladden. Both groups hit a peak of energy and intensity. Then Johnny joined Dexter with Dexter's group. They played a scorching "Blues Up and Down" together which had the audience in the 2,000 seat auditorium screaming and stomping for a long time. It was magic. As the pandemonium finally wound down, Dexter said to the still hysterical crowd, "Thanks........thanks.......LOADS, folks!" I saw Dexter that weekend at a "meet the artist" session at a record store. He was gracious and nice to everyone. A young man came up to him in an agitated state, and talked for quite a long time, a mile a minute, about how he wanted so badly to play jazz but had to play disco music to make ends meet, and how could he break out of that pattern and get to the point where he could just play the real jazz that he loved so much? When he finally finished this rant, Dexter looked at him silently for about a minute, then said in a raspy voice, "keep on swingin'." (That was it, no other advice). I also talked to Dexter one time between sets, when he was playing quite well and speaking eloquently on the bandstand. He was so drunk that all he could manage was a gutteral moan in response to my comments. I wondered how he could function so well on the bandstand. I do not think that his recordings have a noticeable drop off after 1974, as has been suggested by another poster. I think that "Stable Mable" on Steeplechase is one of his best ever, for example. There is very good playing on his Columbia albums too, in my opinion.

Jack DeJohnette--Inflation Blues (ECM, 1983) Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt--Jug and Sonny (Chess)

I have purchased Bennie Maupin's "Jewel in the Lotus" on CD.