Another Disappointing Historical Storyville CD

Dexter Gordon on the cover of the album being discussed (photograph by Kirsten Malone, from the Amazon.com Web page for this recording)

Readers may recall that my last encounter with a Storyville recording of jazz performances in Copenhagen was significantly less than sanguine. Nevertheless, I found it hard to resist taking the time to listen to the Montmartre 1964 album of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon performing at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen in July of 1964. During a European tour, Gordon first came to Copenhagen on October 9, 1962. He would make it his home until 1974. He was one of many American jazz musicians to perform with bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, who is also featured on this quartet album, along with Catalan Tete Montoliu on piano and Alex Riel on drums. The album has seven tracks, which seem to have been recorded at two different sessions. Gordon also provides vocals for Saunders King’s “Big Fat Butterfly.”

Production gets off to a rocky start with the very first track, which is listed as “King Neptune,” even though Gordon insisted that the title of his composition was “Kong Neptune.” That is the title that can be found on his One Flight Up album of a Blue Note recording session that took place one month earlier in Paris. Ørsted Pedersen played at that session, joined by two Blue Note “regulars,” Kenny Drew on piano and Art Taylor on drums. Mind you, there is much to enjoy in the bass work recorded at Montmartre; but one still comes away feeling that Gordon’s work in playing his own composition has been short-changed.

Fortunately, that is the most disappointing track on the album. All of the remaining six tracks provide more than ample opportunity to appreciate Gordon’s style and inventiveness. The Sixties amounted to a fruitful decade in his career; and, like many other jazz musicians, he enjoyed how Europeans not only appreciated but also respected jazz as a serious art form. Those that take their listening seriously will probably be able to get beyond any of the flaws in the production of the album, whether they involve the audio content or the paucity of background material.

That said, there is much more to be gained in appreciating Gordon’s work by appealing to the six CDs in The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions as a “primary source.”