by Scott Yanow
The great tenor Dexter Gordon made so many consistently enjoyable straightahead recordings during 1960-78 that it is difficult to come up with any sets that are not recommended to fans of bebop. This double album finds Gordon in excellent form, performing four jazz standards along with two of his originals (&Fried Bananas& and &Junior&) with a Dutch trio (pianist Cees Slinger, bassist Jacques Schois and the future avant-garde innovator Han Bennink on drums). Virtually all of Gordon's records from his productive European period find him at his peak and this two-fer is no exception.