Elemental Music ihas released two recently discovered, previously unreleased live recordings: Dexter Gordon Quartet, Espace Cardin 1977 and Woody Shaw Quartet, Live in Bremen 1983. Presented in exceptional sound quality, these deluxe-CD editions include a 12-page booklet with an essay by famed jazz producer and Elemental project coordinator Michael Cuscuna, as well as contributions from Gordon’s widow and biographer, Maxine Gordon, and from Shaw’s son and namesake, Woody Shaw III.
In 1977 Dexter Gordon returned home to the U.S. after more than a decade living in Europe and launched perhaps the most productive period of his long and varied musical career. “He had peaks and valleys to his playing career, but boy in the mid-‘70s he was at a peak. It was unbelievable,” Cuscuna remembers. “I used to hear him night after night, on and off over a couple of years, and he never had a bad night. It was always just extraordinary.”
Not forsaking Europe entirely, Gordon returned for gigs like
the inspired set captured here at the Espace Pierre Cardin (Théâtre de la
Ville) in Paris in September 25, 1977. Sharing the stage with him that night
are the well-known rhythm section of French bassist Pierre Michelot and
American drummer Kenny Clarke. What makes this performance unique is that it is
the only known recording of Gordon playing with one of the stalwarts of bebop
piano, Al Haig. A constant presence on 52nd street during the embryonic days of
bebop in the late 1940s, Haig’s career had gone fallow by the 1960s. At the
time of this performance, he was experiencing a much-deserved rediscovery.
To further complement this series, Gordon’s legacy is also
being illuminated by Gordon’s widow and former manager, jazz historian and
archivist Maxine Gordon, with the completion of his official biography entitled
Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon - to be published by
University of California Press in November 2018. Maxine has preserved Gordon’s
legacy and worked to advocate for and document the work of numerous musicians
and organizations since Gordon’s passing in 1990. Visit http://maxinegordon.com
and http://dextergordon.com for more info.
Woody Shaw Quartet’s Live in Bremen 1983 was recorded live
at Post Aula, in Bremen Germany on January 18, 1983. It’s a rare and satisfying
snapshot of trumpeter Shaw’s second great quintet, formed in 1980 with pianist
Mulgrew Miller, bassist Stafford James, and drummer Tony Reedus. Like all
Elemental releases, this set was produced by Cuscuna, who was a close friend of
the late trumpeter during the last 15 years of his life.
All of the Shaw releases in this series were curated and
assembled by Shaw’s son, Woody Shaw III, Associate Producer of these Shaw
projects. A musician and digital producer with degrees in the arts and business
from Columbia University and Harvard, Shaw III has spent the past 15 years
preserving his father’s legacy. In fact, Cuscuna and Shaw III have co-produced
several reissues of Shaw’s classic recordings together, including the 7-CD set
for Cuscuna’s Mosaic Records label entitled Woody Shaw: The Complete Muse
Sessions (2013). Shaw III also wrote liner notes for this Elemental series.
Woody Shaw III is currently producing a documentary film on
the late trumpeter entitled Woody Shaw: Beyond All Limits. The film which is in
production, documents the artistic, intellectual, and philosophical discoveries
of Shaw through his music, serving as an intergenerational memoir of a rich
musical legacy passed down from father to son. Visit http://woodyshaw.com for
more info.
“Woody was an
incredibly unique player, who broke the trumpet mold because his style was
forged on a respect for Lee Morgan, Booker Little and to some extent Freddie
Hubbard but also on saxophone players,” Cuscuna says, “He was an exceptional
soloist and also a great intellect. He’s influenced a lot of people who came
after him.”
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