Alone and I

Dexter Gordon (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Butch Warren (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). From the album Takin’ Off (1962).

In 1960 Dexter Gordon recovered from his addiction, in 1961 he signed a contract with Blue Note Records and returned to New York. There he recorded several albums, among which Go! stands out, in which he plays hard bop and modal jazz. In 1962 he moved to Europe, where he stayed until 1976, first in Paris and then in Copenhagen. There he played with other expatriats like him and musicians who visited the continent, and continued to record for Blue Note. In 1965 he switched to Prestige Records, where he recorded several hard bop albums until 1973.

Afterwards he recorded for SteepleChase Records very good quality albums in which European musicians also participated, such as Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Tete Montoliu. In 1976 he came back to North America and his return was treated as a major media event. He signed with Columbia Records, with whom he recorded two albums and was an admired musician, but his health gradually deteriorated until he stopped playing in the early 1980s. In 1986 he participated as a leading actor in the Bertrand Tavernier’s film ‘Round Midnight. He died of kidney failure and laryngeal cancer in 1990 at the age of 67.

The rhythm section makes a concise introduction and then Gordon comes in playing at slow tempo. It’s a ballad that reveals the lyrical beauty of midnight solitude. Then Gordon stops playing and Hancock finishes exposing the theme. After that, Hubbard briefly plays wonderful phrases before giving way to Hanckock, who slides exquisite notes between his fingers in a delicate improvisation full of sweetness. Hubbard returns equally romantic trying to express what a man and a woman feel when they fall in love, and the group re-exposes the theme.