Clifford Jordan
Tenor Sax Solo on
Anthropology

About

Clifford Jordan contributes five choruses on tenor sax, the second of 3 solos on the recording. Taken at a brisk swing tempo of 242 BPM over the 32-bar AABA in B♭, the improvisation moves with confident, driving energy. The tune is a contrafact based on the chord changes of "I Got Rhythm," a familiar harmonic foundation that invites inventive melodic exploration. Jordan follows with five extended tenor saxophone choruses that build in intensity and complexity, his solo revealing both his debt to the bebop tradition and his own emerging voice within it. Recorded for the album Cliff Craft in 1957, the performance captures Clifford Jordan at 25 to 26 years old.

Clifford Jordan was 25 to 26 years old at the time.