Dexter Gordon with Junior Mance – At Montreux (Prestige, 1985)

Dexter Gordon (ts); Junior Mance (p); Martin Rivera (b); Oliver Jackson (d)

Recorded on June 18, 1970

Like a handful of others, this LP was one that I immediately knew I would include in this survey.  Dexter recorded prolifically throughout the decade, but I discovered At Montreux while I was making my first forays into jazz.  I listened to music over and over and over again.  Along with Dexter’s album Go, this was the music that made me a Dexter Gordon fan.  And Dexter’s was one of the first voices in jazz that I immediately recognized and loved.

In this album’s liner notes, Michael Cuscuna tells us that Dexter traveled to the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival as a single.  This quartet performance, co-led by Junior Mance, was captured immediately after Mance’s trio had performed their set.  Engineers from Atlantic, the label with whom Mance was signed at the time, recorded Mance’s trio set, and the tapes kept rolling when Dexter joined them on stage.  The music remained unreleased for fifteen years, until Atlantic licensed the music to Prestige and they released the LP in 1985.  (Mance’s set has never officially been released, although “grey market” versions are now available.)  The long delay until the music saw the light of day is no indicator of its quality, which is fabulous.

As you might imagine, Dexter sounds inspired on this set.  What a sound he makes with the tenor saxophone!  It’s big as a house, cavernous!  Yet so swinging and effortless!  And Junior Mance and his trio are perfect in support.  The album opens with one of Dexter’s trademark tunes, “Fried Bananas.”  They also play two standards, Ellington’s “Sophisticated Ladies” and an epochal “Body and Soul” (another Gordon specialty), as well two Monk pieces, “Rhythm A Ning” and “Blue Monk.”  Mance plays the Monk pieces with aplomb.  It’s also enjoyable to compare Mance’s take on Monk here with his collaborations with Johnny Griffin & “Lockjaw” Davis on their 1961 LP Lookin’ at Monk (Jazzland/OJC).  (Perhaps it’s fun to me because I discovered both LPs around the same time.  Years ago, I remember making a mental note to myself, “That Junior Mance guy sounds great!  So bluesy and such a different take on Monk!”)  The CD release also include a bonus track, a striking version Gordon’s composition “The Panther.”  

Stay tuned for more from Dexter Gordon later in the survey.