AMG Review of Music for Lovers

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

Most of these nine tunes were recorded between 1962 and 1965, with one cut, the final one, taken from a very late date in 1985 with John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Billy Higgins, and Pierre Michelot. Over the course of his career in jazz, Dexter Gordon became one of its greatest balladeers. These tunes, all standards save one original, showcase him in wonderfully intimate settings, allowing his true singing voice on the horn to shine through and express complex emotions through fairly simple arrangements. "Serenade in Blue" opens the set, and Gordon croons to Sir Charles Thompson's light-fingered chords and ostinati. On "Stairway to the Stars," with Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, and Michelot, Gordon digs into the melody and paints it with deep, resonant colors. The lone Gordon composition, "Jodi," with Freddie Hubbard, Bob Cranshaw, and Billy Higgins, is full of Dex's trademark tenderness and gentleness. This is a beautifully sequenced selection, one that plays to the saxophonist's greatest strength.