In life,
trumpeter Woody Shaw and saxophonist Dexter Gordon – two instrumental giants of
the jazz idiom – were often connected. They both lived in Europe, (Gordon for
14 years in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Shaw briefly in 1964), they were friends and
frequent collaborators, and their respective recording careers were
re-fashioned at Columbia Records by producer Michael Cuscuna. Gordon and Shaw
became key voices in the rejuvenation of that label’s jazz division, and yet
again both men reunited with ex-Columbia Records president Bruce Lundvall and
Cuscuna at the newly reactivated Blue Note label in the mid-‘80s. Among
Gordon’s late career highlights is his Oscar-nominated role in the film Round
Midnight and the film’s pair of soundtrack albums, Round Midnight and The Other
Side of Round Midnight. Shaw, who served as Blue Note’s house trumpeter in the
‘60s, collaborated with Freddie Hubbard on two seminal ‘80s recordings for the
storied imprint.
Now this
pair of jazz giants, in peak form and backed by crack working bands, can be
heard again, on two newly discovered, previously unreleased live performances
from Japan: Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 and Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981,
released in deluxe-CD and LP editions by Elemental Music.
Gordon and
Shaw thrived personally and artistically during their time in Europe. Woody
Shaw played with and learned from the great saxophonist Eric Dolphy. During his
time in Copenhagen, Dexter Gordon formed a fruitful musical connection with
pianist Kenny Drew. At the heart of Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 is that
almost telepathic interplay with Drew who moved to the Danish capital in 1964.
On this recording, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, the Danish bass prodigy,
equally adept at both walking bass-lines and solos, holds down the bass chair.
Drew, Pedersen and drummer Alex Riel were the house band at Jazzhus Montmartre
in Copenhagen, with Riel later replaced by another American ex-pat Albert
“Tootie” Heath. It is this lineup that’s heard on Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo
1975. Whatever the lineup, the Jazzhus house band played live and on record
many times with not only Gordon but Ben Webster, Johnny Griffin and others.
As famed
jazz producer and Elemental Music Consultant Michael Cuscuna states in his liner
notes for this package: “Having suffered the perils of being a single on the
road for so many decades where out-of-tune pianos and tone-deaf pianists lurk
around every corner, Dexter was lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of this great
rhythm section for years in Copenhagen.”
Captured at
Yubin Chokin Hall on October 1, 1975, Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975, Gordon
and his quartet play a program that opens with a long version of his favored
original “Fried Bananas” and continues on to a pair of well-known standards in
Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses” (which Gordon recorded on his 1972
Prestige album, Tangerine) and Erroll Garner’s immortal, “Misty,” which had
headed the 1965 Gordon live album of the same name. In glance back to the
1940s, the program continued with the Billy Eckstine-penned “Jelly, Jelly,
Jelly,” which Gordon was often known to sing. This package also contains a pair
of bonus tracks, the first being a spirited reading, complete with a quote from
“Popeye the Sailor” of Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning” recorded in Laren,
Holland in June 1973 with Drew, Pedersen and drummer Espen Rud behind the kit.
The second bonus number, a slow take of “Old Folks” dates from May 1977 in New
Haven, Connecticut and features Gordon’s homecoming band with pianist Ronnie
Matthews, bassist Stafford James, drummer Louis Hayes and Shaw.
One of the
most distinctive and underrated trumpeters in jazz history, Woody Shaw began on
the trumpet in high school, reputedly the same month that one of his heroes,
Clifford Brown, died in a tragic car accident. First gaining fame as a sideman
with Willie Bobo and Eric Dolphy, with whom he made his recording debut on
Dolphy’s Iron Man, Shaw moved to Paris in the mid-‘60s, where he crossed paths
with Gordon, who he later helped reintroduce to the stateside jazz scene in the
mid-‘70s. After returning to the U.S. to play with Horace Silver’s Quintet,
Shaw recorded for a variety of labels including Blue Note, Contemporary, Muse
and finally Columbia, where in 1978 he recorded Rosewood, an album widely
acknowledged as his masterpiece.
Shaw was
also a key member of Gordon’s live Homecoming album, which captured Gordon’s
first gig at the Village Vanguard after returning to the U.S. in 1977. Active
on the jazz scene and as an international ambassador for the music until his
untimely death in 1989 at 44, Shaw brought vital new energies to the language
of jazz improvisation and uncompromising expression. On Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981,
Shaw is joined by his working quintet which was notable for having the unusual
textures and tonality of a frontline of Shaw and trombonist Steve Turre, backed
by the considerable talents of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Stafford James
and drummer Tony Reedus.
Woody Shaw
Tokyo 1981 opens with a stellar rendition of Shaw’s signature tune, the famous
69-bars of “Rosewood,” which is here played at a faster tempo than on the
original studio recording. A straight reading of Thelonious Monk’s “`Round
Midnight” with gorgeous solos by Shaw and Turre follows. In the ballad “From
Moment to Moment,” Shaw shows his softer side and uses his warm, generous tone
to its fullest. A swinging reading of Shaw’s waltz “Theme for Maxine,” closes
the show. Written for his manager Maxine Gordon, this tune became something of
a theme song for Shaw and was a constant presence on his concert set lists.
This package also contains a bonus track from a concert of the Paris Reunion
Band recorded live in Den Haag, Holland on July 14, 1985. Besides Shaw and
Dizzy Reece on trumpet, this ‘80s ensemble of one-time ex-pats included
saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Nathan Davis, pianist Kenny Drew, trombonist
Slide Hampton, Jimmy Woode on bass and Billy Brooks on drums. Here they dig in
on Shaw’s “Sweet Love of Mine,” an oft-covered number, probably best known in
versions by Art Pepper and Jackie McLean. This version is highlighted by a
heated competition in solos by Shaw, Griffin and Drew and a gorgeous trumpet
cadenza by Shaw in the finale.
“Woody Shaw
had in mind to contribute something meaningful to the world, something that was
the result of his own labor, his own search and life’s journey,” writes his
son, Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III in his liner notes for the package. “For
jazz, he felt a deep sense of loyalty and honor, a feeling that fueled his
commitment and provided him with the inspiration he needed to turn his musical
dreams, however farfetched they may have once been, into a reality that we now
get to experience through the music he left behind.”
Instantly
essential, these two sets document two of the towering figures in jazz history
playing at their peak, and as such Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 and Woody
Shaw Tokyo 1981 are invaluable additions to the recorded legacies of both these
irreplaceable jazz visionaries. Maxine Gordon summarizes in her liner note to
the Gordon package:
“Jazz fans
the world over love discoveries of previously unreleased gems, hidden in
storage rooms and vaults, unmarked and covered with dust. Elemental is finding
a way to share these treasures with us. They are remastering often overlooked
musical events and repackaging them to look as beautiful as the music sounds.”
Dexter
Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 & Woody Shaw Tokyo 1981
Elemental
Music · Release Date: July 13, 2018
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