''Blues à la Suisse'' is a live album by American saxophonist
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...
recorded at the
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
in Switzerland in 1973 and released on the
Prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...
label.
[Dexter Gordon catalog](_blank)
accessed March 7, 2017Prestige Records discography
accessed March 7, 2017 The track "Blues à la Suisse" is credited to Gordon on the LP, but the composition is actually John Coltrane's "Some Other Blues" from Coltrane's 1960 Atlantic LP Coltrane Jazz
''Coltrane Jazz'' is the sixth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in early 1961 on Atlantic Records. Most of the album features Coltrane playing with his former Miles Davis bandmates, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul ...
.[Dexter Gordon: Dexter Gordon: The Complete Prestige Sessions](_blank)
accessed January 31, 2023
Critical reception
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
critic Scott Yanow stated "Tenor-great Dexter Gordon sounds fine on these four extended performances ... The rhythm section (Hampton Hawes on electric piano, electric bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Kenny Clarke) is not as attuned to Gordon's music as one would hope (the electronics do not really blend in well), making this a somewhat average (but still fairly enjoyable) bop session".
Track listing
# "Gingerbread Boy" (Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually co ...
) – 12:43
# "Blues à la Suisse" (Dexter Gordon) – 10:26
# "Some Other Spring" (Arthur Herzog, Jr.
Arthur Herzog Jr. (December 13, 1900 in New York City – September 1, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan) was a songwriter and composer.
Career
Herzog was most known for work with Billie Holiday. He co-wrote several jazz songs she popularized, including ...
, Irene Kitchings) – 6:02
# " Secret Love" (Sammy Fain
Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre. ...
, Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award.
Life and career
Webster was born in New York City, United St ...
) – 14:31
Personnel
*Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...
– tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
*Hampton Hawes
Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975.
Early life
Hampton Hawes was born on N ...
– piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, electric piano
An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...
*Bob Cranshaw
Melbourne Robert Cranshaw (December 3, 1932 – November 2, 2016) was an American jazz bassist. His career spanned the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long associa ...
– electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck
The ...
*Kenny Clarke
Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...
– drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
References
{{Hampton Hawes
Prestige Records live albums
Albums recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Dexter Gordon live albums
1974 live albums
Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews