Dexter Gordon: At The Subway Club 1973 & Tokyo 1975

I’ve been enjoying a significant series of historical releases on the Elemental Music label featuring bandleaders tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon and trumpeter Woody Shaw. These previously unreleased tracks have been sitting unheard since they were recorded between 1965 (Gordon in Germany) and 1981 (Shaw, with one track by the Paris Reunion Band in 1985). Now licensed and fully authorized, each set offers bonus tracks drawn from other performances. 

Until he formed his own quartet in the late Seventies, the magisterial tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon toured most often as a single, assembling new bands in every town. The welcome release of the two-CD set At The Subway Club 1973 provides a few snapshots of three different editions of the Dexter Gordon Quartet. The main event, mostly well recorded at a German night club in September 1973, takes up all of the first disc plus the first tune on disc 2. His comrades for this evening were pianist Irv Rochlin, bassist Henk Haverhoek and drummer Tony Inzalaco. Not exactly household names, even in the most jazz-obsessed home, but they acquit themselves quite well. The leader is in a typically expansive mood, stretching out even on tunes not usually in his repertoire, like Wave, the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic that opens the show. Jimmy Webb’s Didn’t We is next, with Gordon in story-telling mode as he limns the melody after reciting a few lyrics. The whole crew flies through On the Trail, from Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite (1933), which has been a staple for improvisation for decades. A muscular romp through another favored Gordon song, Secret Love from the Webster-Fain musical Calamity Jane (1953), concludes the first CD. Leading off the second disc is a 27-minute excursion through the Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn standard It’s You or No One. This was one of Dex’s favorite vehicles for improvisation, and he soars through the song to close the set. To fill out the second disc, the producers have come up with material from two earlier European performances. We get to hear him play Fried Bananas, a Gordon original that he played frequently, and to caress the ballad Some Other Spring, best known from Billie Holiday’s 1939 recording, from a 1971 appearance in the Netherlands quality and the all-Dutch rhythm section of Cees Slinger on piano, Maarten van Regteren Altena on bass, and Martin van Duyhoven on drums. Then we slip further back into the past for renditions of Monk’s ‘Round Midnight and Tadd Dameron’s Lady Bird taken from a 1965 German concert with the curious grouping of George Gruntz on piano, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Stu Martin on drums. Sound quality on the Dutch set is acceptable, though I would be happier with more saxophone in the mix. The 1965 material is a bit murky, with the drums way down in the mix, but Dexter is in good form. It’s the earliest known performance of the Monk tune by Gordon, though he sounds thoroughly at home with it. Short liner essays by Maxine Gordon, Dexter’s widow and biographer, and Michael Cuscuna, who produced a number of Dexter Gordon albums in the late Seventies and early Eighties, provide valuable context and background for this very satisfying release. Recommended. 

When the Dexter Gordon Quartet played a night in Tokyo 1975, the personnel was a group that the saxophonist played with frequently in Copenhagen, his home at the time. Fellow expatriate Kenny Drew was on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen was on bass, and Albert “Tootie” Heath was on drums, an exceptionally swinging and supportive rhythm section. The audience is quite enthusiastic as the quartet offers another helping of Fried Bananas, follows up with Days of Wine and Roses, a Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer song that appeared on Gordon's Tangerine Lp (Prestige, 1972), and the much-loved Erroll Garner song Misty, before the set ends with Gordon singing a couple of choruses on the Billy Eckstine blues Jelly, Jelly, Jelly. Drew and NHØP play on the first bonus track, a version of Monk’s Rhythm-a-Ning recorded in 1973 in the Netherlands with drummer Espen Rud on board. Gordon is in a fun mood in a long exchange with Rud before the out-chorus. The last track jumps ahead in time to 1977, for a gorgeous version of Old Folks, a tune from 1938 by Dedette Lee Hill and Willard Robison. The rhythm section of pianist Ronnie Mathews, bassist Stafford James, and drummer Louis Hayes is the same as on his well-received Homecoming album, recorded in late 1976. Mathews shines here, with a dynamic solo sandwiched between two of the saxophonist’s forays. Informative liner notes by Maxine Gordon and Michael Cuscuna plus period photos in a 16-page booklet made a perfect complement to the music. 

Subway Club: Elemental Music 5990433; Dexter Gordon (ts) Irv Rochlin (p) Henk Haverhoek (b) Tony Inzalaco (d); Köln, West Germany, September 11, 1973; exc. *Gordon (ts) Cees Slinger (p) Maarten van Regteren Altena (b) Martin van Duyhoven (d); Den Haag, The Netherlands, March 22, 1971; and #Gordon (ts) George Gruntz (p) Jimmy Woode (d) Stu Martin (d); Stuttgart, West Germany, November 23, 1965; Disc 1 (68:12): Wave/ Didn’t We/ On the Trail/ Secret Love; Disc 2 (76:50): It’s You or No One/ Fried Bananas*/ Some Other Spring*/ ‘Round Midnight#/ Lady Bird#. 

Tokyo 1975: Elemental Music 5990428; Dexter Gordon (ts; vcl on #) Kenny Drew (p) Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b) Albert “Tootie” Heath (d); Tokyo, Japan, October 1, 1975; exc. * Gordon (ts) Drew (p) Pedersen (b) Espen Rud (d); Laren, The Netherlands, July 18, 1973; and #Gordon (ts) Ronnie Mathews (p) Stafford James (b) Louis Hayes (d); New Haven, CT, May 5, 1977; Fried Bananas/ Days of Wine and Roses/ Misty/ Jelly, Jelly, Jelly#/ Rhythm-a-Ning*/ Old Folks#; 63:42. elemental-music.com

Paul Desmond: The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings

Will wonders never cease? I sure hope not, as the latest treasure to make its way to my CD player is the astounding 7-disc set by alto saxophone master Paul Desmond, entitled The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings. Extensive liner notes by Doug Ramsey, who knew Desmond well and wrote Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Don Thompson, bassist and recording engineer for this material, jazz historian Thomas Cunniffe, and, happily, the witty Desmond himself, go a long way towards explaining the circumstances surrounding these live performances at Toronto’s Bourbon Street night club. In brief, after Desmond and Dave Brubeck finally called it quits on the quartet in 1967, the saxophonist took it easy for a while. Eventually, he was persuaded to play at the Half Note, a new club near his Manhattan apartment. Jim Hall, a long-time favorite of Desmond’s, was his guitarist on the gig, and when that led to an invitation to play in Toronto early in 1975, Hall demurred, and suggested using Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert. This was a match that proved to be perfect from the first minute. Like Desmond, Bickert seemed to know every song anyone had ever played, and as Thompson notes, Bickert “was famous for basically knowing all the tunes in all the keys.” The crystalline lines he conjured from a solid-body Fender Telecaster mesh perfectly with Desmond’s legendarily dry tone. On drums was the deeply simpatico Jerry Fuller, whose rhythmic authority is always clear. Of the 9 sessions spread across the 7 discs, only three have previously been available. Eight songs from late October were issued as a two-Lp set on the A& M Horizon label. From the same dates, but listed separately in the discography, are five songs that originally appeared on Artists House. And six tracks recorded in March came out on a Telarc CD. That means that there are hours and hours of new Desmond performances (32 tracks!) to thrill and delight his fans. The one thing that amazes me about these recordings is the complete lack of rehearsal. Somehow, Desmond could stand on stage, call the tune (sometimes) and the key, and off they’d go. There was no discussion of anything, says Thompson, except for endings to a few songs. It worked the same way when valve trombonist Rob McConnell subbed for Bickert on a couple of nights at the end of October. McConnell is quoted as saying “Without a word, a count-off or even picking the tune, Paul would have the band playing just the way he wanted it; quietly, thoughtfully, and musically.” Given the circumstances, there are naturally a few tunes in the repertoire that appear a few times. But with such thoughtful and harmonically astute improvisers on the bandstand, it’s no problem at all to hear Desmond play favorites like Gerry Mulligan’s Line For Lyons, Duke Ellington’s Just Squeeze Me, Mercer Ellington’s Things Ain’t What They Used To Be, and his own Take Five. About the only thing that might get on some listeners’ nerves are the seldom-varied routines of solos by Desmond, Bickert, and on every tune, whether he wanted to take a solo or not, Thompson. Drummer Fuller gets a bit short-changed on solo time, but he sounds so much at home throughout that I doubt it bothered him at all. When McConnell takes over for Bickert on a couple of night, the energy level rises a bit, as the two horns inspire one another and play off of each other in fresh ways. The twelve minutes they devote to Let’s Get Away From it All, the Matt Dennis-Tom Adair standard, should be enough to convince most listeners that it’s too bad that the men didn’t get together to play more often. Early in his notes, Ramsey asks if the reader will “allow me to mention a few high points, although I must observe that [these recording] constitute the high point of Desmond’s post-Brubeck career.” And he is so right. Absolutely recommended. 

Mosaic MD7-269; Paul Desmond (as) Ed Bickert (g on sessions A-F, I) or Rob McConnell (valve tbn on sessions G & H) Don Thompson (b) Jerry Fuller (d); Toronto, ON, March 25 (A), March 26 (B), March 28 (C), March 29 (D), October 25-26 (E), October 27-29 (F), October 30 (G), October 31 (H), and October 27-29 (I); Disc 1 (69:17): Too Marvelous For Words (C)/ Line For Lyons (A)/ Emily (A)/ It Could Happen to You (B)/ Just Squeeze Me (C)/ I Wish I Knew (A)/ I Should Care (C)/ Audrey (B). Disc 2 (73:14): Just Squeeze Me (D)/ Meditation (D)/ Tangerine (D)/ Darn That Dream (C)/ Nuages (D)/ Like Someone in Love (D)/ Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (D). Disc 3 (65:11): Line For Lyons (F)/ Wendy (E)/ Too Marvelous For Words (F)/ When Sunny Gets Blue (F)/ Audrey (F) Darn That Dream (F)/ Take Five (E). Disc 4 (70:23): Tangerine (F)/ Wave (C)/ It Could Happen to You (C)/ Emily (E)/ Line For Lyons (E)/ When Sunny Gets Blue (E)/ Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (E). Disc 5 (64:29): Just Squeeze Me (E)/ All the Things You Are (B)/ Autumn Leaves (B)/ Wave (B)/ I’ve Got You Under My Skin (A)/ Nuages (B)/ East of the Sun (C). Disc 6 (77:52): Let’s Get Away From it All (G)/ Line For Lyons (G)/ Just Squeeze Me (G)/ My Funny Valentine (H)/ Mean to Me (H)/ Wendy (G)/ Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (G). Disc 7 (73:26): Wendy (I)/ Wave (I)/ Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (I)/ Nancy (I)/ Manha de Carnaval (I)/ Here’s That Rainy Day (I)/ My Funny Valentine (I)/ Take Five (I). (Limited edition of 2,500 sets, available directly from mosaicrecords.com)

Jordan/Futterman/Swell/Fielder + Jordan/Futterman/Parker/Drake

Percussionist Alvin Fiedler first appeared on record with a 1958 edition of the Sun Ra Arkestra. A charter member of Chicago’s AACM, he played with Roscoe Mitchell in the mid-Sixties, appearing on the seminal Sound album for Nessa. According to his Wikipedia entry, he returned home to Mississippi in 1969, and began working with saxophonist Kidd Jordan in 1975 in what became the Improvisational Arts band. A mainstay of the New Orleans avant-garde scene, Fielder had lengthy musical relationships with Jordan and pianist Joel Futterman, and getting as far as Dallas, Texas, with brassman Dennis Gonzalez. His final recording, issued by the Big Easy’s invaluable independent label Valid Records, is Masters Of Improvisation, featuring a quartet of Kidd Jordan, Alvin Fielder, Joel Futterman & Steve Swell from a live concert at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans in late January 2017. After a few tentative minutes to settle into the space, the second half of Expansion is a wild, no holds barred freely improvised onslaught, complete with a hip drum solo to end the piece. The exploratory 25 minutes of Residue start out with trombonist Swell and drummer Fielder in a low-key duet. Futterman joins the fray with darting piano chords as the intensity builds slowly and surely. Futterman and Fielder go at it for a spell in a busier frame of mind. Jordan then enters the scene, in a relaxed mood, and the music slows down again to give listeners a chance for some close listening. Overall, it’s quite an enjoyable exposition, with Fielder setting the pace and controlling the dynamics. The track flows directly into the finale, a cheerfully energetic conversation with plenty of interplay and direct communication, and ending the set with an unexpected sidelong glance at Doc Pomus’ Lonely Avenue! A fine night of music indeed.

   Fielder passed away at the age of 83 in January 2019, and in June of that year, the quartet of Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Joel Futterman, William Parker, & Hamid Drake offered A Tribute to Alvin Fielder, Live at Vision Festival XXIV. It’s clear from the first seconds of the single 45-minute improvisation that spirits were high and the musicians totally engaged. Bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake form one of the most potent rhythm teams around. One of the great musical experiences of my life was witnessing a quartet of Parker and Drake with the twin-tenor threat of Edward “Kidd” Jordan and the late Fred Anderson, and so I had great expectations for this Vision Festival performance. I wish I could have been there, but I’m very happy to report that this Mahakala Music release is deeply satisfying from start to finish. As is usually the case with free improvisation, a blow-by-blow account is relatively pointless and unhelpful. But I will note Jordan’s playful evocation of eden ahbez’s Nature Boy, Futterman’s lush and deep concentration at the low end of the piano, and the uncanny empathy displayed at every moment by Parker and Drake as the music ebbs and flows. As Kidd Jordan (85 in May, 2020) tells the audience at the end, he’s “blessed to play with younger fellows” and, quoting the blues song Going Down Slow, he’s had his fun, “if I don’t get well no more.” He had a ball, he told them, and now it’s your turn to have a ball at home. Happily recommended.
Masters of Improvisation: Valid VR-1016; Steve Swell (tbn) Kidd Jordan (ts) Joel Futterman (p) Alvin Fielder (d); New Orleans, LA, January 24, 2017; Expansion/ Residue/ Sawdust on the Floor; 47:50. validrecords.com
Tribute To Alvin Fielder: Mahakala Music; Edward "Kidd" Jordan (ts) Joel Futterman (p) William Parker (b) Hamid Drake (d); Brooklyn, NY, June 12, 2019; A Tribute to Alvin Fiedler; 45:03. mahakalamusic.com

Denman Maroney: Martingale

Piano wizard Denman Maroney has been following his own dense path for the past three decades, including continued collaborations with such talents as bassist Mark Dresser and trumpeter Dave Douglas. His latest effort, Martingale, is a digital-only affair, featuring what might be a working quintet if these was anything like “performing for an audience” during the pandemic. This is Maroney’s third release with bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Bob Meyer aboard. Reedist Steven Frieder, a new name for me, has a relaxed presence and compelling voice bringing the swirling melodies of Maroney’s compositions to life. Utilizing a strategy he calls temporal harmony, Maroney’s writing employs loops of sound, and loops within loops, stacked one on top of the other, a strategy that builds rhythmic complexity as it unfolds in time. Blind Love is a real favorite, with an abundance of melodic flair and an exciting round of instrumental trades, adapting a time-honored small band gesture into Maroney’s forward-thinking compositions. The sole non-original, Off Centerpiece, is Maroney’s re-imagining of “Sweets” Edison and Jon Hendricks’ Centerpiece, first heard on Edison’s Sweetenings LP for Roulette in 1958. The tune is well-suited to Maroney’s proclivity for intertwined and repetitive structures, and the quartet essentially tears the song to pieces and puts it back together in an almost Cubist fashion, with Frieder prominently testifying on tenor. Maroney moves to hyperpiano for the stop-start rhythms of Time’s Out. His version of “prepared piano” involves making sounds “by stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, strumming and striking the strings directly with a variety of tools including bars, bowls, knives, bells and mashers of metal, boxes and bottles of plastic, mallets of various kinds, and blocks of rubber,” as Maroney describes it in an essay on his website. Primal Sympathy starts out as a ballad with prominent bowed bass, then shifts to more deliberate playing when the drums enter around the 3-minute mark. On this 10-minute opus, the repetitive aspects of Maroney’s music, coupled with a slow tempo, make for some tedious listening, even with some fine improvising by Frieder in the second half. Things are back on track for the jaunty Sea Set Wheat, with the second appearance of the hyperpiano and an opportunity for Meyer to take an impressive and minimalist drum solo. The friendly Set Sea Sank ends the set with flair and a cheerfully bright mien. While Maroney’s music is not always easy to listen to, it’s always quite rewarding to stick with it, and this latest venture is well worth a listen.
Self-produced digital only release; Steven Frieder (rds) Denman Maroney (p, hyperpiano*) Ratzo Harris (b) Bob Meyer (drums & cymbals); Mt. Vernon, NY, February 6-7, 2020; Martingale/ Curl/ Blind Love/ Off Centerpiece/ All in the Loop/ New One Two/ Time's Out*/ Peer to Peer/ Primal Sympathy/ Sea Set Wheat*/ Set Sea Sank; 69:47. www.denmanmaroney.com

Aruán Ortiz with Andrew Cyrille & Mauricio Herrera: Inside Rhythmic Falls

A heady brew of piano and percussion awaits the open-hearted listener on Inside Rhythmic Falls, a project teaming Aruán Ortiz with Andrew Cyrille & Mauricio Herrera. Pianist Ortiz, who composed all the songs except for Para ti Nengón, the Cuban folk song that ends the set, is joined by a fellow Cuban, percussionist Mauricio Herrera and the great Andrew Cyrille on drums. The opening track adds vocalists Emeline Michel and Marlène Ramirez-Cancio, who join Ortiz in presenting his original poem Lucero Mundo in overlapping voices. It functions as an introduction to Ortiz’ vibrant world of sound. It’s a great world to get lost in, what with Ortiz’ lush pianism and boundless imagination. Then there’s the masterful Cyrille, one of the great responders in improvised music, whether he’s with Coleman Hawkins (1961), Cecil Taylor (starting in 1965), Oliver Lake & Reggie Workman in Trio 3 (starting in 1992), or recently with Bill McHenry and Bill Frisell. Cyrille’s skills remain fresh and his playing thoroughly engaged. Just listen to Conversation With the Oaks or the lively Argelier’s Disciple. Marimbula’s Mood intertwines Cyrille’s laid-back drums, Ortiz’ flights of fancy, and Herrera’s marimbula. It’s an instrument common in Cuba’s changüi style, the source of the jumpy and funky Golden Voice (Changüi), an 8 minute chase by piano and various drums. The meditative and subdued De Cantos y Ñáñigos (Ñáñigo is one name for an Afro-Cuban men's secret society) is next. The sublime opening has Ortiz exploring the bottom end of the piano with Cyrille on brushes. It gets better from there. The title track is divided into two parts. Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part I (Sacred Codes) is a brisk excursion into ecstatic percussion, with Cyrille’s tom-toms leading the way. Part II (Echoes) features an especially assertive and Ortiz charging forward with considerable energy for the first half before settling down to an introspective colloquy with the percussionists. Inside Rhythmic Falls is a magical encounter, happily recommended. Intakt CD 339; Aruán Ortiz (p, vcl) Andrew Cyrille (d) Mauricio Herrera (marimbula, changüi bongoes, catá, cowbells, vcl) Emeline Michel, Marlène Ramirez-Cancio (vcl on*); Lucero Mundo*/ Conversations with the Oaks/ Marimbula’s Mood/ Golden Voice (Changüi)/ De Cantos y Ñáñigos/ Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part I (Sacred Codes)/ Argelier’s Disciple/ Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part II (Echoes)/ El Ashé de la Palabra/ Para ti Nengón; 49:22. www.intaktrec.ch

Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp: Amalgam

You might think that after dozens of recordings of freely improvised music, the saxophone and piano team of Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp would have run out of things to say. They’ve thought it themselves, proclaiming on a few occasions that their duo projects were over. But time has a way of upending expectations, and after extended recording sessions in 2018 (Efflorescence, Vol. 1, with a second volume on the way) and a live recording in Nuremberg in June, 2019, the pair was back in Brooklyn’s Park West Studio in January 2020 to create their latest opus, Amalgam. There’s a peaceful feeling to the first of twelve sections as the duo seems to have reached a serene plateau of other-worldly melody. Shipp’s gently rolling phrases are met by a relatively subdued Perelman in an impressive piece that amounts to a sort of overture for the session. There’s some outright contentiousness in the second part, as if the duo was having a dispute about the direction of the music. Perelman’s endless assortment of shrieks, moans, wails and frenzied screeches is matched by Shipp’s insistent chording and rhythmic complexity. The third section is calm again, though with an undercurrent of dissonance that threatens to erupt but never does. The twelve sections of Amalgam are more introspective than usual for this pair. Close listening is absolutely critical when you’re collaborating with a partner to create music out of the thin air with no preconceptions, and here Perelman and Shipp seem to have reached a new level of instant communication. As Perelman told their tireless chronicler Neil Tesser, “We play less now and say more. We are having a new appreciation for the space between notes and between chords. So now each note carries more weight in the overall structure; each note breathes because of the space around it.” Strictly speaking, an amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal which may be a liquid, a soft paste, or a solid, depending upon the proportion of mercury. It’s a word nearly always associated with dentistry, but metaphorically speaking, a mixture of elements, with the result dependent on the particular proportions, is a perfect way to describe this music. Or as close to perfect as words might reach to describe the mystical communion that Shipp and Perelman attain with their instruments. A beautiful session, strongly recommended. Mahakala Music; Ivo Perelman (ts) Matthew Shipp (p); Brooklyn, NY, January 2020; Amalgam, parts 1-12; 47:29. mahakalamusic.com

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Angular Blues

Drum master Brian Blade was a member of a trio with Jeff Denson on bass and Romain Pilon on guitar that recorded one of my favorite CDs of 2019. He’s back again in another guitar trio led by veteran guitar slinger Wolfgang Muthspiel, with the unerringly supportive bassist Scott Colley rounding out the group on Angular Blues. The trio’s warm and sympathetic approach to the music is a reflection of the fact that Blade and Muthspiel have collaborated on ten released projects since they first performed together on Rebekka Bakken’s Daily Mirror Reflected back in 2000, including several trio releases and a pair of duo albums, Friendly Travelers (2006) and Friendly Travelers Live (2007). Colley also played on the Bakken CD, and in 2001, he joined Blade and Muthspiel to play on Mike Holober’s Canyon. The trio recorded this set in Tokyo, after a three night run at a jazz club. Not surprisingly, the overall feel is that of the last set of a long night, with everyone loose and relaxed as the music practically plays itself in an extended three-way conversation. Particularly fine are the elegiac Hüttengriffe, one of three pieces to feature Muthspiel on acoustic guitar, the trio’s joyous dissection of Cole Porter’s Everything I Love and their madly swinging treatment of Muthspiel’s Kanon in 6/8. Definitely recommended.
ECM 2655; Wolfgang Muthspiel (ac* & el g) Scott Colley (b) Brian Blade (d); Tokyo, Japan, August 2018; Wondering*/ Angular Blues*/ Hüttengriffe*/ Camino/ Ride/ Everything I Love/ Kanon in 6/8/ Solo Kanon in 5/4/ I’ll Remember April; 53:54. www.ecmrecords.com