"Jackie McLean and Dexter Gordon were closely identified with those sensational sounds that ushered in a whole new musical lifestyle. As a very young man Jackie was casually but significantly tutored by the late Bud Powell. A few years on and he was running around with Charlie Parker, digging the master, listening, learning, getting it together. Bird saw the promise in him, so did Miles Davis. He was on his way.
"Dexter Gordon, meanwhile, had to be regarded as Mr. Saxophone by all the hip tenor cats (not to mention contemporaries on alto, even baritone). Dexter's huge influence on musicians of that era has been well and truly put in perspective by Ira Gitler in 'Jazz Masters of the Forties'. Gordon was the man who was able to synthesize the truth preached by Lester Young, Charlie Parker and the Texas tenors into a cohesive and personal whole.
"Small wonder that Jackie writes on the jacket of 'The Meeting' (SteepleChase SCS-1005): 'He [Dexter] made me want to be a musician - I heard Bird after Dex.' Well, during two evenings at the Montmartre Jazzhus, Copenhagen, in July 1973, Jackie and Dexter, making their first records together, took a retrospective look at bebop and some of the compositions from those days that still inspired them. And in doing so they reaffirmed the validity and durability of that particular jazz style.
"Warning: This is not tired nostalgia, a friendly stroll down memory lane for the benefit of middle-aged dudes who are striving to recapture their youth. Jackie and Dexter have moved forward and onward. In the 1970s they are playing differently, with greater fire and invention than 20 years ago. That is as it should be. But the old lines from their youth continue to merit re-investigation.
"If you think about it, there is no earthly reason why 'Half Nelson' should be any less exciting as a blowing vehicle in 1973 than it was in 1942 when composer Miles Davis first recorded it (with Bird on tenor). 'Half Nelson' was based on Tadd Dameron's 'Ladybird'. McLean and Gordon follow what has become accepted tradition by going into the original theme after starting 'Half Nelson'. Dex og Jackie alternating on the breaks. Dexter obviously enjoys these good changes, from bottom to top, even finding time to give us a glimpse of the 'Mona Lisa'. They are to Jackie's liking, too, and Kenny Drew delineates a typically supple solo. Dig Niels-Henning - superb.
"Though 'I Can't Get Started' is a show tune from the 1930s, it became jazz property after Billy and Bunny had individually immortalised the song, and this melody continues to be a favourite with the boppers. Bird did it up a couple of time as only he could. Jackie and Dexter infuse the tune with that bittersweet flavour that spells e-m-o-t-i-o-n. Who said 'I Can't Get Started' was a trumpeters' property? He was wrong. Dexter's 'If You Could See Me Now' coda is a nice touch.
"We go back to 1947 again for a second Charlie Parker/Miles Davis collaboration, 'Another Hair-do' which the Bird supposedly recorded in Detroit on Christmas Day of that year. It's a blues, of course, and in this territory McLean and Gordon have few peers. Jackie makes several references to the little tag that Bird used to preface his set-closing 'Theme'. It's a long and highly-charged solo. When it comes to the quotation game Dexter is tops and in the course of his solo you will find snatches of 'Oop-bap-Sh'bam', his favourite 'And the Angels Sing', 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town', 'Frankie and Johnny', etc.
"When Dexter first recorded 'Dexter Digs In', Niels-Henning was four months old. That was in 1946 and more than a quarter of a century later Mr. Gordon still sounds as fresh as a spring dawn. This extended 're-write' of the tenor saxophonist's original (which, incidentally, had Bud Powell and Max Roach in the supporting cast!) finds Jackie and Kenny, besides Dexter, digging in. There is some kinetic conversation between the saxes before the rideout. This riffy opus, by the way, inspired singer Eddie Jefferson to write a memorable set of lyrics which he recorded in 1969.
"Jackie's closing tribute says it all. Dexter was his source and their collective source was bebop. What Jackie doesn't mention is his own part in these proceedings. There can be no doubt tha on those nights at the Montmartre, Mr. McLean acted as a catalyst to the man who was his own original inspiration. It could only happen in jazz and to have the occasion preserved on two great albums makes it a treat we can savour over and over again." (Mark Gardner. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Jackie McLean (a-sx), Dexter Gordon (t-sx), Kenny Drew (pi), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bs), Alex Riel (dr)
1. Half Nelson
2. I Can't Get Started
3. On The Trail
4. Closing
5. Another Hair-Do
6. Dexter Digs In
7. Closing
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