Recorded to tape at RAK Studios in November 2019 and engineered by Tony Platt (Bob Marley, Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Abdullah Ibrahim), the line-up features top musicians from the New York jazz scene who have collectively played with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, and Chick Corea. Forming as the Charles Tolliver All Stars, the band includes Jesse Davis on alto saxophone, Keith Brown on piano, Buster Williams on double bass, and Lenny White on drums. The album also bridges together New York and London by featuring leading British saxophonist Binker Golding on two tracks.

Cut in-house with Gearbox’s 1967 Haeco Scully lathe, the exact same lathe set-up as Blue Note used back in the day.

Recorded with Hayes’ approval by Les Tomkins on his Ferrograph tape recorder, this is one of the most engrossing of all his stretch-out epics. Hayes digs in deep with marathon and breathtaking soloing, trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar delivers his characteristically lyrical improvisation, and there’s dynamic interplay and drive from the great Terry Shannon, Freddy Logan and Allan Ganley rhythm section.

The Quintet had barely a few months left to run at the time of this performance, splitting in August 1964, fearing its music had atrophied into self-parody. Modes and Blues is among its many triumphs, a performance that shows how high the band had set the aspirational bar for British modernism, and, as such, is as much a cultural document as a musical souvenir.

Accompanied at Ronnie Scott’s by the house band of pianist Stan Tracey, double bassist Rick Laird and drummer Bill Eyden, most of the repertoire played comes from Lateef’s earlier recordings for Savoy and Prestige such as Jazz Moods and Eastern Sounds. Lateef plays flute on The Dreamer and Last Night Blues (it was the last night of the run). He plays the shenai - a kind of oboe - on Blues for The Orient, the xun - a Chinese flute - on Song of Delilah, and tenor saxophone on Yusef’s Mood.

The evening’s performance was recorded by Les Tomkins at the request of Ronnie Scott. The musicians were unaware they were being recorded as Scott believed they would be at their best and most unselfconscious this way. This record was mastered at Gearbox Records directly from the original 1/4” tapes.

By the time their performance at the Societiet Progress in Heemskerk was recorded for broadcast by VPRO, the quartet had been playing together regularly for two months. Dexter and his “Dutch band” had developed a deep rapport and understanding that’s clearly evident on the three extended tracks on this record. These are two of his signature compositions, “The Panther” and “Fried Bananas”, plus the iconic Coleman Hawkins classic “Body and Soul”.

With sleeve notes by Dexter’s wife Maxine Gordon that include reminiscences and insights from drummer Eric Ineke and pianist Rein de Graaf, Fried Bananas is an important new addition to the recorded legacy of Dexter Gordon’s fourteen years in Europe.

With artwork by Gearbox Art Director Alan Foulkes and detailed sleeve notes by tenor saxophonist and Hayes biographer Simon Spillett, The Syndicate now fills an aching gap in Hayes’ discography and our understanding of his remarkable musical journey.