A MULTIMDEIA SENSATION

REVIEW: Dexter Gordon: The Classic Blue Note Recordings 4 stars (Blue Note, two CDs)(John Fordham, June 6, 2003, The Guardian)

This recording was made when Dexter Gordon was in his mid-30s - when his influence on the tenor-sax sounds of both Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane were still fresh, and his majestic mix of Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins was in its irresistible prime. [...]

Superb playing partners include Bud Powell, Freddie Hubbard, Philly Joe Jones and Billy Higgins, and if the leader can occasionally sound a little typecast with his imperious, big-tenor bravura, it's still irresistible and undated jazz music.

Besides being a legendary musician, Mr. Gordon also has a great moment on television (in the Moulin Rouge episode of the great series Crime Story) and in the fine film 'Round Midnight, where he plays a legendary jazz musician in decline. At one point he and the young Frenchman who idolizes him enter a bar where a patron knocks back a shot and then crumples to the floor. Mr. Gordon growls at the barkeep: "I'll have one a what he just had." Posted by Orrin Judd at June 6, 2003 12:47 PM