"Scrapple from the Apple" from Dexter Gordon's 1963 album Our Man in Paris is a thrilling encounter between the towering tenor saxophonist and legendary pianist Bud Powell, recorded at a Parisian studio with bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Kenny Clarke. Gordon's eight-chorus solo at 232 BPM over Charlie Parker's AABA contrafact on "Honeysuckle Rose" in F is a masterclass in bebop saxophone, his big, warm tone and behind-the-beat phrasing giving the music a relaxed grandeur that contrasted with Parker's quicksilver approach to the same material. Powell follows with two choruses of piano that, despite his declining health during this period, still flash with the brilliance that made him the most revolutionary pianist in bebop. The recording session has acquired legendary status as one of the great summit meetings in jazz, uniting an American expatriate with the reigning king of bebop piano and a Parisian rhythm section steeped in the bebop tradition. Gordon's decision to record Parker's composition as the album's opener pays tribute to the creator of modern jazz saxophone while establishing his own distinctive voice within that tradition.
