
Dexter Gordon & Slide Hampton- A Day In Copenhagen
Label: MPS Released 11/24/2023 BLACK FRIDAY RECORD STORE DAY RELEASE LIMIT TO 1 PER CUSTOMER With his big, warm, round-toned sound, sophisticated phrasing, and hip quotes, Dexter Gordon was one of the major forces on the tenor saxophone from the mid-1940’s until his death in 1990. Gordon was cited by both Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane as a major influence on their playing, and is acknowledged as a jazz icon. The popularity of mainstream jazz was on the decline in the States during the 1960’s. The Vietnam war and racial turmoil were in high gear, and many of the music’s top-flight musicians, including Gordon, migrated to Europe in order both to escape and to make a living playing jazz. Gordon eventually settled in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this period, he usually played and recorded backed by a piano trio, but this 1969 recording is different. The usual quartet has been expanded with some of those premiere jazz ‘refugees’, each a major voice on his instrument, assembled for the ses