“Hey Mac this sounds more like a jazz album.” Damn right it does and it sounds great. Yeah, I know, I get pegged as some kind of blues purist, but the truth is I have nothing against any kind of music unless...you know, it sucks. I will also confess to a deep love of jazzy blues and bluesy jazz and that is what this album all about.

These are just labels anyway and, as most people know, the best jazz players through the years have a sturdy foundation in blues. Take sax giants Charlie Parker (alto) or Lester Young (tenor) who trace their roots right back to the Kansas City Blues scene of the 30’s and 40’s. Take jazz pianist Pete Johnson and his work with Big Joe Turner.  Bassist Charles Mingus played with Wynonie Harris before the former became a jazz icon. It is the area in which tenor man David “Fathead” Newman lived and on and on.  

I suppose that it is the same argument people make about blues-rock. ‘All music came from the blues, so this is a natural progression.... blah blah blah.’ The difference is that blues-rock is for fans who really don’t like blues in the first place. It is for musicians who can’t play blues and don’t even aspire to play jazz. So they try and redefine the blues genre to suit their own lack of talent in that field. 

The point I am making is that jazz, blues, vintage rock&roll, rhythm & blues, country, gospel and soul music all have more in common than many folks wish to acknowledge. I also would like to point out that not too long ago, in the minds of many, jazz and blues were inseparable. Then along came blues-rock and it’s minions of idiots who took a dump all over this music and insured that what is passed off as blues is so universally lame and unappealing that nobody it seems  wants to hear the blues anymore. Mission accomplished douche-bonnets.

On the other hand, Sax Gordon has a deep background in blues from his days in California playing with Johnny Heartsman onto his association with the players in his longtime home of Cambridge, Massachusetts. These cats include Matt Murphy, Duke Robillard and Roomful of Blues.

Beyond that, on the liner notes of the great self titled album he recorded with baritone sax man Doug James back in 2005, it lists his recording credits which include work with Rosco Gordon, Jimmy T.99 Nelson, Kim Wilson, Billy Boy Arnold and even Jay McShann among others. The list of touring credits include working with Little Milton, Charlie Musslewhite, John Hammond, Jimmy Witherspoon and Johnny Johnson.

In recent years it is even more difficult to keep track of the seemingly endless recordings which include the saxophone of Gordon. He has recorded with pianist Fred Kaplan on his simply stunning 2012 album Hold My Mule, as well as with guitarist Junior Watson's release of the same year entitled, Jumpin’ With Junior.

He has worked with the outstanding cabal of musicians out of Brazil led by Igor Prado and his great band. Album credits for Gordon include work on The Igor Prado Band’s 2012 Blues and Soul Sessions, the Ari Borger/Igor Prado album of 2013 entitled Lowdown Boogie and the Denilson Martins album of 2014, Big D. He also played on Chicago native Donny Nichilo’s album, Long Way From Chicago, which was recorded in Sao Paulo and backed by The Igor Prado Band.

Lucky for all of us, he has also recorded a series of albums under his own name that vary wildly in their styles. It seems that a Sax Gordon album is just like the old saying, ‘If you don’t like the weather, stick around; it will change before you know it.’  

Take the most recent two album’s by Sax Gordon Beadle which were released in 2014; there is the album with Catalonian pianist Lluis Coloma. The album entitled, Racan Rol, combines jazz, blues and soul as well as r&b influences from America with the diverse sounds from Coloma’s home land. It is an album designed to challenge almost any listener on either side of the Atlantic (...or the Pyrenees for that matter). For those of you with an adventurous spirit, it is worth a try. For what it is worth, the album has grown on me.

Then Gordon turns right around and serves up, In The Wee Small Hours on Delmark which happens to be in my wheel house. This instrumental tenor sax/organ/drum trio album is the perfect marriage of jazz and blues. It was music like this which was a staple with such players as guitarists Tiny Grimes and Bill Jennings. It was where you would find organist Jimmy Smith, tenor sax man Stanly Turentine as well as guitarist Kenny Burrell, who recorded together extensively.  

As the excellent liner notes written by Bob Porter point out, “... jazz means different things to different people...” For Gordon this means Gene Ammons, Willis “Gator Tail” Jackson and Arnett Cobb amongst others. On this late 2014 release (yeah, I’m playing catch up on this one) Gordon again goes over the pond to find the right musicians to suit his muse of the moment.  

Here Gordon shares the spotlight with Italian organ player Alberto Marsico whose credits include work with Morizio Pugno and Egidio “Juke” Engala. Drummer Alessandro Minutto digs a deep groove and seems to be at home with this type of material.

What the trio does is blues infused interpretations of songs that fit into the general category of the great American songbook save one Gordon Beadle original, Big Top Blues. Songs like The Glory of Love, and the album’s title track have been used for decades as a launching pad for jazz greats to explore the improvisational landscape of their imagination. Gordon does the same, applying his own sensibilities to this material. The song In The Wee Small Hours was a favorite of tenor players for years, perhaps based on Ben Webster’s wonderful reading. That version via the 1959 album he did with the Oscar Peterson Trio is tough to beat, but to Gordon’s great credit he doesn’t try. While Webster renders the most lilting version imaginable, Gordon gives this ballad a more robust tone while maintaining the achingly slow pace that makes the tune work.

Another old favorite of mine When I Get To Old To Dream has versions by Arnett Cobb as well as by Stanley Turrentine via his work with the Jimmy Smith quartet on that band’s seminal 1960 Blue Note release Back at the Chicken Shack. It is Marsico’s organ playing that might remind listeners of that classic recording.

Gordon and company recorded this album in Bruino (Torino), Italy, but it will remind listeners of the great sounds once made in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. This very rich music is steeped in several great American traditions. They are bought back to life by this great inter-continental trio. Thanks to Robert Koester of Delmark Records for continuing to believe in traditional blues and jazz and that area where the two traditions gently caress one another and coax the very best the two forms have to offer.

- David Mac