Known as the "Sophisticated Giant," at 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Dexter Gordon was one of the most influential saxophonists of his day. A key pioneer of bebop in the company of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Gordon's playing influenced the 60s generation of great saxophonists, like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, who both went on to leave their impact Gordon's own style in his later years. This concert, recorded at the beginning of the 70s in Paris, marks a special moment in his long career: after a decade of seminal Blue Note recordings in the 60s, he went on a fourteen-year hiatus to Europe, during which he toured and offered performances like this one to European crowds.
Joined by the maverick drummer-painter Daniel Humair, the pianist Georges Arvanitas, and Alby Cullaz on the double-bass (all francophone musicians who were mainstay sidemen for American artists in Europe), Gordon starts the show with a crowd favorite, "Fried Bannanas," before launching into a sweed and nuanced interpretation of “Days of Wine and Roses,” by Henri Mancini (the composer behind The Pink Panther theme and "Moon River). He later pays tribute to a feature of musical symbiosis in his life, the great John Coltrane, via his track, "Some Of The Blues."
