Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)
Stable Mable, a SteepleChase album of the Dexter Gordon Quartet, was originally released as an LP in 1976. The recording was made in Copenhagen with pianist Horace Parlan, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson on bass, and drummer Tony Inzalaco. All of the tracks were recorded in a single set on March 10, 1975. As of this writing, one album is left in stock for import from an Amazon.com Web page; but it will be released as an “audiophile vinyl” this coming Friday, which, hopefully, will also find its way to Amazon.
Some readers may recall that, back at the beginning of 2019, I wrote about Gordon’s biography, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, authored by his widow Maxine Gordon. Unfortunately, his legacy has been a rocky one. This has less to do with his talent for engaging invention and more do to with recordings that did not always capture that inventiveness. The primary case in point is in releases by Storyville, which seemed to prioritize the audiophiles over the jazz lovers.
Nevertheless, I have come to grips with the cold fact that, where the legacy of jazz masters of the past is concerned, one just has to take what one gets. Fortunately, “taking” Stable Mable turned out to be a more than satisfying listening experience. I particularly enjoyed the contrasts among the different contributing composers, including Charlie Parker (“Red Cross”), Duke Ellington (“In a Sentimental Mood”), Miles Davis (“So What”), and Errol Garner (“Misty”).
The good news is that SteepleChase seems to deliver more solid accounts of the performances it has recorded than the variability one encounters with Storyville, and that makes all the difference where attentive listening is involved.
