One Flight Up
5
By 4Brichta
Recorded in Paris in 1964 by a slew of ex-pat Americans — Dexter Gordon (tenor sax) Donal Byrd (trumpet) Kenny Drew (piano) and Art Taylor (drums) — with one lone European, the then 18-year-old and already brilliant bassist, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, One Flight Up is a great jazz album that deserves more discovery. Taylor’s snare snaps you to attention at the opening of ‘Tanya’ a three-chord modal vamp in the vein of Miles Davis’ All Blues. The tune’s composer, Byrd, and the superb rhythm section lay down the theme before Gordon’s throaty tenor pours forth a veritable, yet warmly sweet, volcano of sound. Taylor is especially effective over the tune’s 18 minutes.
