Dexter Gordon - Doin' Allright - 180g Vinyl LP

2020 reissue

Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series

In honor of Blue Note Records’ 80th Anniversary, the legendary Jazz label is launching the Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series. Distinct from the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, this 2nd series curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman features mid-priced 180g vinyl releases in standard packaging with albums spanning the many eras of the label’s history presented by themes: Blue Note Debuts, Blue Grooves, Great Reid Miles Covers, Blue Note Live, and Blue Note Drummer Leaders.

Though he first recorded in the late-1940s, Dexter Gordon’s Blue Note debut Doin’ Allright—recorded and released in 1961—marked a rebirth for the great tenor saxophonist after a decade in which drug addiction and legal troubles limited his output. But his Blue Note years put him back on top with a run of essential albums that stand as classics of the jazz canon. Doin’ Allright featured a top flight quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Horace Parlan, bassist George Tucker, and drummer.

"I compared this new all-analog Blue Note 80 reissue cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio to the 2009 Music Matters Jazz 45rpm edition mastered by Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering. While RTI plated and pressed the MMJ 45, they only plated the BN80 which Optimal pressed. Since Gray's cutting electronics and cabling at Cohearent are a significant improvement over that of AcousTech, this new 33rpm Blue Note 80 reissue far surpasses in many ways the Music Matters 45. What the BN80 mainly does best is offer greater transparency, lifting the proverbial veil from this recording. For example, the MMJ has Al Harewood's drums panned hard right, and while they reverberate in that specific space, the sound is still mostly stuck there. On this new reissue however, Harewood's drums reverberate across the entire soundstage despite the main feed being stuck in one channel. Further, it sounds more as if Gordon and Hubbard are playing together as opposed to Gordon's tenor sax occasionally drowning out Hubbard on the 45 (albeit not surprisingly; Hoffman is known to spotlight the leading instrument when EQ'ing jazz records). Further, the Optimal-pressed record is quiet, flat, and arrived without a blemish (the only issue was the mediocre sandpaper inner sleeve)... All in all, this reissue is a success for Blue Note in terms of quality at a great price point, and I look forward to the rest of this excellent and affordable series." - Malachi Lui, Analog Planet, Music 8/11, Sound 10/11