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Dexter Gordon Revisited


Dexter Gordon on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano
from the movie Round Midnight

Circa 1991, I took the Calcutta Metro from Rabindra Sarobar to Esplanade. I just had to visit Symphony, a very famous outlet for music cassettes. Looking for something on Jazz, I encountered 'The Best of Dexter Gordon.' I loved Jazz, I loved the tenor saxophone, I loved the feel of the cassette! So I bought it.

Little did I know that this little buy would soon become my favorite cassette, particularly for one of the tracks-Tanya-which I still consider the best Jazz composition ever. I would listen to it over & over again. One of my cousins had a minor altercation with me and decided to seek revenge by cutting the tape, since he knew very well how much I loved it! To this very day I've not been able to forgive him for his dark act.

The tape was somehow glued. I played it so often (after returning to Jamshedpur), it was worn ahead of its time! I was helpless and couldn't do anything about it. I even got it dubbed, but we somehow misplaced it. I looked for a replacement without any luck. Time finally took its toll and the cassette became almost unusable.

Imagine how overjoyed I felt when I came across it (now in CD) today @ The Forum! Tanya was still there, all of 18 mins of it! I bought it, coupled with Dexter's Ballads. The 2nd CD too turned out to be an excellent buy.

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