With its big, warm, round sound, sophisticated phrasing, and hip quotes, Dexter Gordon was a major force on the tenor saxophone from the mid-1940s until his death in 1990. Gordon was cited by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane as a major influence on their playing. Dexter moved to Europe in the early 1960s, settling in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this period, he usually played and recorded accompanied by a piano trio, so having two horns join him makes this album special. One of the great trombonists of modern jazz, Slide Hampton is also a renowned composer-arranger. Three of the compositions and all the arrangements on the album are his. The elegant Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reese completes the front line. The rhythm section includes two jazz giants with whom Gordon played at the famous Club Montmartre in Copenhagen, his fellow American expatriate pianist Kenny Drew and Danish bassist N-H Örsted Peterson. Drummer Art Taylor was brought in from Paris to complete the all-star rhythm section. Slide's minor-key "My Blues" kicks off the set with a bright, upbeat Dex showing that he had listened to Trane and Rollins as much as they had listened to him. Everyone gets a chance to blow on this one. Normally a ballad, "You Don't Know What Love Is" glides along at a medium clip; Slide states that his intention was to keep the feeling that Billy Holliday and Miles Davis had in their versions. Hampton's "A New Thing" is actually straight-ahead hard bop, with Dexter shining again out front. On "What's New," Slide changes what is normally a ballad into something special; this time a medium-tempo 12/8 with beautiful solos from the three horns. Dexter saves "The Shadow of Your Smile" for himself and the trio, giving the ballad a breathtaking interpretation. The set closes with "A Day In Vienna," Slide's richly voiced tribute to the Austrian radio jazz workshop. All Music calls the album "... an excellent sextet session. The other soloists are fine but Gordon easily dominates the set. An outstanding album from one of the great tenor saxophonists in jazz."
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