The Chase is a landmark jazz tune written and performed as a famous tenor battle by Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. The original studio version, titled The Chase, grew out of their 1947 duet sessions in Los Angeles and helped establish their reputation as pioneers of modern tenor playing. In 1952 the extended performances were released on the album The Chase and the Steeplechase, a Pasadena Civic Auditorium live set that pairs The Chase with Steeplechase (a Charlie Parker tune). The Chase runs about 11 and a half minutes and the album sits squarely in the jazz genre with bop influences, celebrated as a high point of the Gordon–Gray collaboration.
