Dexter Gordon - Complete Columbia Albums Collection (CD)

Details: Reissue. Seven CD box set. After his exile in Europe Dexter Gordon returned to the USA the end of 1976. This event was documented on the 2 LP set Homecoming - Live at the Village Vanguard (CD1 and CD2). After this Dexter and producer Michael Cuscuna embarked on a new project only a major label could fund: a larger ensemble to support the lush and marvellous tenor sound of Mr. Gordon. Slide Hampton was enlisted as arranger and the result was the album Sophisticated Giant (CD3). With his working quartet (George Cables, Rufus Reid and Eddie Gladden) Dexter recorded Manhattan Symphony in 1978 (CD4). The Live at Carnegie Hall tapes were discovered in 1998 and here we hear the quartet stretching out a bit more than in the confines of the studio walls. Johnny Griffin sits in on 2 tracks (CD5). The quartet broke up at the end of the 70's so the next album Gotham City became an all-star affair with Woody Shaw, George Benson, Cedar Walton, Art Blakey & Percy Heath (CD6). The CBS All-Stars - Montreux Summit and the Havana Jam tracks on which Dexter plays can be found on the last CD (CD7). The tracks from the Great Encounters album are put back together with the original sessions from which they came.

Tracklist:

1. Gingerbread Boy
2. Little Red's Fantasy
3. Fenja
4. In Case You Haven't Heard
5. Fried Bananas
6. It's You or No One
7. Let's Get Down
8. 'Round Midnight
9. Backstairs
10. Body and Soul
11. Laura
12. The Moontrane
13. Red Top
14. Fried Bananas
15. You're Blasé
16. How Insensitive
17. Diggin' in
18. It's Only a Paper Moon
19. As Time Goes By
20. Moment's Notice
21. Tanya
22. I Told You So
23. Body and Soul
24. LTD
25. Ruby My Dear
26. Secret Love
27. Introduction
28. Secret Love
29. Introduction
30. The End of a Love Affair
31. Introduction
32. More Than You Know
33. Introduction
34. Blues Up and Down
35. Introduction
36. Cheesecake
37. Hi Fly
38. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
39. The Blues Walk (Loose Walk)
40. Gotham City
41. A Conversation with Dexter Gordon. Music Elements / Gotham City/A Nightingale Sang.../Hi Fly/Blues Walk
42. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Short Version)
43. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Long Version)
44. Fried Bananas
45. The Moontrane
46. Red Top
47. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
48. Project S
49. Isn't She Lovely