Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series

• pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal

Dexter Gordon’s 1963 album Our Man In Paris was his first dispatch from Europe and is also symbolically considered to be the last true bebop album. After recording his masterful albums GO! and A Swingin’ Affair in the Summer of 1962, the great saxophonist left the United States for what would be a 14-year period living in Europe.

In May 1963, Gordon assembled a quartet with bebop legends and fellow expats Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke, along with the French bassist Pierre Michelot, and headed into CBS Studios in Paris to record this all-time classic album. Powell had been in a state of poor health, but on this particular day the pianist was in fine form sounding inspired in the glow of Gordon’s commanding presence on a set of well-known jazz standards and bebop mainstays including “Scrapple from the Apple,” “A Night In Tunisia,” “Willow Weep for Me,” and “Stairway to the Stars

PERSONNEL:

Dexter Gordon - (tenor sax)
Bud Powell - (piano)
Pierre Michelot - (bass)
Kenny Clarke - (drums)

TRACKS:

A1 Scrapple From The Apple
A2 Willow Weep For Me

B1 Broadway
B2 Stairway To The Stars
B3 A Night In Tunisia