Dexter Gordon - Dexter Calling 1961

Personnel

Dexter Gordon - tenor saxophone

Kenny Drew - piano

Paul Chambers - bass

Philly Joe Jones - drums

Track listing

All compositions by Dexter Gordon except as indicated

"Soul Sister" - 7:45

"Modal Mood" (Kenny Drew) - 5:23

"I Want More" - 5:20

"The End of a Love Affair" (Edward Redding) - 6:53

"Clear the Dex" (Drew) - 4:54

"Ernie's Tune" - 4:16

"Smile" (Charlie Chaplin) - 3:23

"Landslide" - 5:15 Bonus track on CD reissue

Dexter Calling is the second of four albums recorded during Dexter's new York rennaissance period. His musical language was expanding into the idioms of hard bop and modal jazz. The first album, Doin' Allright, is more in the hard bop realm. Dexter Calling has a more modal emphasis. Fittingly, he is backed on this album by Kenny Drew (p), Philly Joe Jones (d), and Paul Chambers (b), who backed John Coltrane on Blue Train in 1958. Kenny Drew was a few years into an association with Dexter that would last through Dexter's stay in Europe.

Modal Mood, I Want More, and Clear the Dex are uptempo Gordon and Drew originals that push into the minor modal realm. End of a Love Affair is given a similar hard charging treatment. The emphasis on hard-driving rather than swinging uptempo tunes might not meet expectations of what Dexter was all about, but the authority, intensity, and finesse they're delivered with make them winners. The album also includes a gospel-tinged blues, Soul Sister; Ernie's Tune, a contemplative minor ballad written by Gordon for a stage play; an exhuberant version of Charlie Chaplin's Smile, and Landslide, a bouncy Gordon original that showcases the classic Gordon swing.