Dexter Gordon – “Doin’ Alright” BN 80
The new Dexter Gordon BN 80 LP arrived (at last) today. After Herbie, I had lowish expectations. Worry not.
Doin’ Alright was Gordon’s first foray into Blue Note records. He had spent the 1950s, like Art Pepper, in and out of prison and had lost his cabaret card to play in New York. His spell with Blue Note yielded a number of classics including Go and A Swinging Affair. Locating subsequently to Europe he recorded Our Man in Paris, One Flight Up and Clubhouse there (without RVG). All great albums. His wife has recently published a well written biography – Sophisticated Giant – which (so far as I have read) is significantly less harrowing than the Art Pepper equivalent.
You can buy a reasonably good quality original mono copy of “Doin’ Alright” for $350 or you can buy the new Kevin Gray mastered AAA version (from the original stereo masters) for $20. It is a bargain.
The sound is spectacular – of a caliber that I have heard only on AP Prestige and MM Blue Note reissues (same mastering engineer, after all). This blows away the 24/192 digital version that I have. The sense of space is extraordinary, the timbre and timing of Gordon’s saxophone is as rich as coffee beans, the bass and drums punchy – and the trumpet sound of Freddie Hubbard is just gorgeous. The sound of the record is truly immersive. It’s a great audiophile record.
Now, I’m in a quandary – should I open and listen to the duplicate Herbie Hancock album that Amazon sent me – in case the other one was a dud, or will I send it back?
audioexchange 
Great news then! How about the inner and the sleeve? My Hancock has just been shipped. I suggest that you try out the duplicate and let people know if your first impression was just due to a bad pressing or it is the master.
Outer cover – moderate weight standard cover. Inner sleeve – paper. I cracked open the 2nd Herbie. It certainly better – greater clarity, improved soundstage and instrument separation. Not stellar, but definitely audiophile. I will send the first one back to Amazon; probably a poor pressing.
My copies of Hancock and Gordon were delivered yesterday. Can’t wait to spin these over the weekend!
Spun them yesterday. They do not have the same impact of the TP I have (Shorter and Rivers) and I concur that The Gordon’s sound better that the Hancock. It might be the master itself, I have nothing else to compare the 2 BN 80. On both I hear some ‘whoosh’ – don’t know how to define – on the quietest parts. Can’t understand whether it’s the drum brush…
Two new TPs arrived today (Henderson and Gil Evans). Hmmm -I didn’t really look at these before I ordered them. The Gil Evans record is on the World Pacific Label – which really never had anything to do with Blue Note until EMI acquired the label in the 1990s. The Joe Henderson record is live at the Village Vanguard vol 2 – recorded in 1985 (why not volume 1?) but not released until 1987 – on CD (it was digitally recorded https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/joe-henderson-state-of-the-tenor-vol2-album/ ). Non gatefold packaging – decent stock and inner sleeve – but MM standard it is not. I’m not sure I would be parting with €40 if I saw the Henderson record in a shop (the Evans record is a classic West Coast Jazz date). No Van Gelder here. I thought that the Chick Corea TP record was really good; better than expected. If you like Sam Rivers, check out “Fushia Swing Song” – there is a nice pressing on Heavenly Sweetness (from France) for less than €20; avoid the awful BN 75th version.
I sampled both Evans and Henderson and though I do not dislike them I am still unsure whether I will be pulling the trigger at some point. The former is also reported to have some issues on the first track side two both in the first and second batch that were distributed. Did you notice anything? Henderson is a digital master as that’s how it was initially recorded. Joe Harley said that there won’t be a gatefold whenever they do not have session photos to use, although a full list of impacted titles has not been disclosed. Volume 1 should be part of next year’s Tone Poet I think I’ve read. I like Rivers and I am familiar with “Fushia Swing Song”, I suppose I’ll get it at some point but it’s not in my priority list at the moment.. thanks for the heads up! I just ordered Cornbread, Lou Donaldson and the second batch of the BN 80s. Hunting down Baby Face Willette at a reasonable price (ie under 30€).