Dexter Gordon Mono

It’s impossible to sum up Sonny Clark’s music as sounding like the music of one player or another without adding a “but” to the description, including appreciative words about one component or another of his playing that was his alone.
Yes, he could match the speed and rhythmic inventiveness of Powell, but added a lyrical effortlessness that was never Powell’s. In a hard bop vein, he could recall Horace Silver, but Clark was groovier and more buoyant. When Clark would give voice to his bluesy side – as he did on two dates focusing on shorter-length singles for the jukebox market – he was matchless.

These SACD jackets feature printed wraps mounted to chipboard shells, producing an authentic, "old school" look and feel. Some people call these "mini LP" jackets. This unusual meeting of four tenor saxophone players from different "schools" was part of the Prestige Friday afternoon jam session series but far from a typical outing. The giant forebears of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker inform the backgrounds of the performers on this LP — Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and John Coltrane — and other influences such as Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, and the Sonnys (Stitt and Rollins) show up, too, depending on which of the four protagonists you’re talking about.