Dexter Gordon

Dexter Calling... is the second Blue Note album by Dexter Gordon. Together with Doin' Allright, it marked the start of the tenor saxophonist's comeback after a troubled decade. It is a quartet record that moves between hard-swinging originals and slow ballads. Gordon's big, unhurried sound is in full command throughout.

The session took place on May 9, 1961, at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. That was only three days after Doin' Allright, and with a completely different band. Kenny Drew is on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Rudy Van Gelder recorded the date for producer Alfred Lion, and Leonard Feather wrote the original liner notes.

Three of Gordon's tunes, Soul Sister, I Want More and Ernie's Tune, were written for the 1960 Los Angeles production of Jack Gelber's play The Connection. Soul Sister opens the album with an easy, soulful hard bop gait. Drew contributes the two fastest pieces, Modal Mood and Clear the Dex, the most hard-charging numbers of the set. Ernie's Tune is the emotional centre, a slow ballad that gives Gordon room to stretch every phrase. The set closes on Charlie Chaplin's Smile, taken as a relaxed, cheerful farewell. Edward Redding's The End of a Love Affair completes the programme.

AllMusic rates the album four stars. The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985) gave it the full five, and The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (2008) three. Later CD editions added a further Gordon original, Landslide, as a bonus track. For Gordon, the two May 1961 sessions opened a new and productive chapter with Blue Note.

This Blue Note Tone Poet edition (2026) is stereo, produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analogue master tapes. It is pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.