Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) was one of the first of the young tenormen to take Charlie Parker’s revolutionary new style and apply it to the larger horn. Although Dexter did not play as ostentatiously as Bird, the expanded chromaticism and harmonic range of Parker’s music gave Gordon a stylistic framework through which he could deliver his naturally deep, sonorous tone as well as his natural gift for melody. Although originally from Philadelphia, Gordon was - like Parker himself - deeply influenced by the smooth, mellow playing of Kansas City’s Lester Young, the great tenor player in Count Basie’s band. Already by the age of 18, Dexter was playing professionally in both New York and Chicago, in the big band of Lionel Hampton. By 20, he had already lead his own first recording date, then went on to take a chair in Louis Armstrong’s orchestra throughout 1944. By the end of the year, he joined Billy Eckstine’s band, which featured both Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Like so many other young musicians of the day, hearing these dazzling innovators turned Dexter’s head around. Gordon quickly converted to the bebop style. While continuing to learn the intricate language of the new music and still playing with Eckstine, Gordon appeared with Gillespie in early 1945 on the trumpeter’s first solo recordings. By September, Dexter found himself playing side-by-side with Parker for a session with pianist Sir Charles Thompson. Finally, on October 30, 1945, Dexter Gordon went into the studio to lay down his first bop-oriented tracks as a leader. DEXTER GORDON QUARTET - October 30, 1945 Dexter Gordon (ts); Sadik Hakim (p); Gene Ramey (b); Eddie Nicholson (d) 1. "Blow Mr. Dexter"
2. "Dexter’s Deck"
3. "Dexter’s Cutting Out"
4. "Dextor’s Minor Mad"
Aside from "Blow Mr. Dexter," which is a 12-bar blues, these pieces are basic bebop confections (all self-composed) in standard AABA format. Gordon cleverly appropriates some of Charlie Parker’s harmonic ideas while staying in a swing groove and maintaining his immaculately beautiful tone.
"Blow Mr. Dexter"
"Dexter’s Deck"
"Dexter’s Cutting Out"
"Dexter’s Minor Mad"
Dexter Gordon would have a long career as one of the perennial greats of modern jazz. His early work on tenor would not only lift him to a special following of his own, but would also serve as a prototype and inspiration for subsequent titans on the instrument, such as Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. But Dexter himself, with his smooth, assured, happy style, would always be a special delight to listen to and enjoy.
These four recordings were originally issued as 78-rpm singles on Savoy Records (Charlie Parker’s label). In 1947, with two more great sessions under his belt, the company released Dexter’s first album. All four sides can be found here, as well as on several different larger compilations of Gordon’s work.
With the stunning success of The Firebird (1910), Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballet Russes in Paris, commissioned composer Igor Stravinsky to write a follow-up ballet for the subsequent season. Although Stravinsky’s first idea concerned an ancient tribal ritual, the composer soon found himself fascinated with the idea of a puppet moving to all sorts of the novel orchestral effects that he was experimenting with in his music. Diaghilev was inspired by the notion and quickly suggested a ballet based upon Petrushka - the Russian counterpart of Punch in the popular Punch and Judy shows known throughout Europe and England.
Stravinsky loved the idea and immediately went to work on a simple story of love and jealousy between puppets during a tradition Russian festival, set in the early 19th century. The basic premise allowed for Stravinsky to use Russian folk songs as the basis for dances at the fair, and the puppet-dancers would allow him to fully explore the odd and exotic musical devices that he was so intently pursuing.
The ballet’s story was quite simple and universal. Russian people gather, drink and cavort and dance at a country festival. A puppeteer unveils three marionettes to the crowd: a clown named Petrushka, a beautiful ballerina, and a handsome, dashing Moor. The puppets perform for the crowd, but later, once they are alone, Petrushka reveals that he is actually in love with the ballerina. He tries to win her heart, but she ultimately prefers the Moor, who goes on to kill the broken-hearted and jealous clown.
Petrushka was choreographed by Michel Fokine, and the part of the clown puppet was performed by the legendary dance Vaslav Nijinsky, in a highly stylized manner that stunned the Paris audiences. It was Stravinsky’s second big hit in as many years, and the unique setting allowed him to expand his already-outrageous modernistic compositional techniques to extraordinary new heights.
Stravinsky’s Petrushka remains one of the most popular pieces of early 20th century modernism, and it is still performed quite frequently, both as a ballet and as a concert piece. Its extraordinary brilliance and poignance remain ever undimmed. Moreover, its success allowed the composer both the freedom and the confidence to move ahead full-bore on the original idea that would soon result in his third work for the company: his epoch-changing masterwork, The Rite of Spring. After this, the world of Western music would never be the same again.
