DEXTER GORDON

Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923–April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and an Academy Award-nominated actor. He is considered one of the first bebop tenor players. A famous photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon smoking a cigarette during a set at the Royal Roost in New York City in 1948 is one of the more iconic images in the history of jazz.

Gordon's height was 6 feet 6 inches (about 198 cm), and so consequently he was also known as 'Long Tall Dexter'. He played a Conn 10M 'Ladyface' tenor until the early 1960s, at which point he switched over to a Selmer Mark VI. His saxophone was fitted with an Otto Link metal mouthpiece, which can be seen in various photos.

Gordon's father, Dr. Frank Gordon, M.D., is one of the first prominent African-American physicians and a graduate from Howard University.

Dexter's maternal grandfather is Captain Edward L. Baker, one of the 5 Medal of Honor winners (9th Cav.) in the Spanish-American War and served in the 9th and 10th Cavalries - in the group known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Biography

Early life

Gordon was born and grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a doctor who counted Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton among his patients. He played clarinet from the age of 13, before switching to saxophone (initially alto, then tenor) at 15. While still at school, he was playing in bands with such contemporaries as Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette.

Between 1940 and 1943, Gordon was a member of Lionel Hampton's band, playing in a saxophone section alongside Illinois Jacquet and Marshall Royal. In 1943 he made his first recordings under his own name, alongside Nat Cole and Harry Edison. During 1943-44 he featured in the Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson bands, before joining Billy Eckstine.

By 1945, Gordon had left the Eckstine band and was resident in New York, where he was performing and recording with Charlie Parker, as well as recording under his own name. Gordon was a virtuoso particularly famous for his titanic saxophone duels with fellow tenorman Wardell Gray, that were a popular live attraction and that were documented in several albums between 1947 and 1952.

Many would characterise Gordon's sound as being 'large' and spacious (a feature partially owed to his big'n'tall physical stature), and his tendency to play behind the beat is discernible. One of his major influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane during the 1940s and 1950s. Coltrane's playing, however, during his early period from the mid to late '50s or early '60s influenced Gordon's playing from then onward. Similarities in their styles include their clear, strong, metallic tones, their tendencies to bend up to high notes, and their abilities to single-tongue and still swing. One of Gordon's idiosyncrasies was to recite the lyrics of each ballad before playing it.

Blue Note recordings
 
Dexter Gordon in Amsterdam (1980)

Gordon was saxophonist for the L.A. production of the Jack Gelber play The Connection' in 1960, replacing Jackie McLean who performed and recorded the Freddie Redd score in New York City. By this time he had begun recording for Blue Note Records a collaboration that was to produce some of his most highly-regarded work on the albums Doin' Alright, Dexter Calling..., Go, and A Swingin' Affair. The first two, his Blue Note debuts, were recorded over three days in May 1961 with Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan and others. The last two were recorded in August 1962 just before Gordon left for his extended stay in Europe. On these albums the rhythm section was Blue Note staples Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins.

Years in Europe

After that, he spent 15 years in Europe, mostly in Paris and Copenhagen, where he played regularly with fellow expatriate jazzmen such as Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan and Billy Higgins. Gordon also visited the States occasionally for further recording dates with Blue Note Records. From this period Our Man in Paris, One Flight Up, and Gettin' Around are regarded as among his finest sessions. Our Man in Paris was a Blue Note session recorded in Paris, France in 1963 with a quartet including pianist Bud Powell, drummer Kenny Clarke, and French bassist Pierre Michelot. One Flight Up features an extended solo by Gordon on the track "Tanya" recorded in Paris in 1964 with trumpeter Donald Byrd, while Gettin' Around was recorded during a visit back to the US in May 1965, as was the unreleased album Clubhouse.

Less well-known, but of similar quality, are the albums he recorded during the same period for the Danish label SteepleChase (Something Different, Bouncin' With Dex, and a few dozen others). They feature American sidemen but also such Europeans as Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu and Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Gordon found Europe in the 1960s a much easier place to live, saying that he experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians. Furthermore in America he had experienced drug addiction and imprisonment (twice), and must have found the change of location helpful.

From 1965-1973 he switched from Blue Note to Prestige Records but stayed very much on the hard-bop track, while the rest of the jazz-world was getting funky Gordon was making classic bop albums like 1972's Tangerine with Thad Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Hank Jones. Some of the Prestige albums were recorded during visits back to North America while he was still living in Europe, others were made in Europe including live sets from the Montreux Jazz Festival. The American recordings included The Chase a tenor battle with Gene Ammons cut in Chicago in 1970.

Homecoming
 
at The Village Vanguard in 1977

Gordon finally returned to the United States for good in 1976. He appeared at the Village Vanguard, NY, for a gig that was dubbed as his 'homecoming;' and was recorded and released under that title. He noted 'There was so much love and elation; sometimes it was a little eerie at the Vanguard. After the last set they'd turn on the lights and nobody would move'.

After this appearance, Gordon recorded several more albums that proved he was as good if not better than before his years in Europe, and he finally gained appreciation as one of the great jazz tenors. The increased attention that he received because of Columbia Records promotions has been seen as a turning point in jazz because they focused on acoustic jazz rather than the commercial cross-over styles which had been heavily promoted during the first part of the 1970s.

Gordon made several notable film appearances. The first occurred, oddly enough, while he was in prison for possession of heroin. He portrayed an inmate playing in the prison band in Unchained, though the soundtrack was later overdubbed. In 1986, Gordon starred in the movie Round Midnight as 'Dale Turner', an expatriate jazz musician much like himself; the role might even be a thinly veiled biography of him, though Lester Young and Bud Powell were its main inspirations. Gordon received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal. In addition, he had a non-speaking role in the film Awakenings, which was released after his death. Between these two roles, Gordon made a guest appearance on the Michael Mann series Crime Story.

Gordon died of kidney failure on April 25, 1990, at age 67. He was voted musician of the year by Down Beat magazine in 1978 and 1980, and in the latter year was inducted into Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame.

Family

Dexter Gordon had a total of six children, from the oldest to the youngest: Robin Gordon (Los Angeles, CA), James Canales Gordon (Oakland, CA), Deidre (Dee Dee) Gordon (Los Angeles, CA), Mikael Gordon-Solfors (Stockholm, Sweden), Morten Gordon (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Benjamin Dexter Gordon (Copenhagen, Denmark)and three grandchildren Raina Moore(Brooklyn, NY), Jared Johnson (Los Angeles, CA), Matthew Johnson (Los Angeles, CA).

When he lived in Denmark, he became friends with the family of the future Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, and subsequently became Lars's godfather.

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"Dexter always had that big sound, from the early days. He's a big man. Stands to reason he's gotta lot of lungs."--Zoot Sims

Dexter Gordon--there is a name to conjure with. Veteran listeners will certainly remember him but younger fans probably will not although he was intermittently active during the '50s. To musicians (especially those saxophonists who have been directly or indirectly influenced by him), Dexter Gordon has always been a highly important player. As the first man to synthesize the Young, Hawkins and Parker strains in translating the bop idiom to the tenor saxophone, he was an important contributor. It is not, however, from a stylistic, historical angle that he has been appreciated. Dexter has always been a direct, exciting communicator of emotions; his big sound and declarative attack are as commanding of attention as his imposing height. 

The owner of an acute harmonic sense, Gordon has never used it to merely run changes accurately. He is a melodist and can also contrast rhythmic figures effectively. His harmonic awareness was a great aid in preparing him to plunge into the new music that was fermenting in the early '40s. Unlike many of his immediate contemporaries, Gordon studied harmony and theory at the age of 13, the same time he took up the clarinet. Due to this, he was able to actively incorporate the beneficial effects directly into his playing as he was growing up. At 15, he started playing alto sax and two years later, in 1940, he quit school, switched to tenor sax and joined the "Harlem Collegians" in his native Los Angeles. From this local band he stepped into Lionel Hampton's aggregation in December 1940 and remained with Hamp through 1943. Illinois Jacquet was the prinicpal tenorman and together they were featured on "Po'k Chops." 

After leaving Hampton, he returned to Los Angeles where he played with the groups of Lee Young (Lester Young's drumming brother) and Jesse Price. For six months in 1944, Dexter worked with Louis Armstrong's band. Then he joined Billy Eckstine's new orchestra and received a real chance to be heard: the tenor battle with Gene Ammons on "Blowin' The Blues Away;" his own bits on "Lonesome Lover Blues" and several of the modern jazz instrumentals that the band played. 

Gordon's impact was immediate. You could hear it in the work of his section-mate, Ammons. When he left Eckstine for New York's 52nd Street in 1945, his influence spread like the ripples a large rock makes when it is dropped into a pool of water. Allen Eager's first quartet recordings ("Booby Hatch," "Rampage") showed that he was listening and Stan Getz was captured temporarily according to such sides as "Opus De Bop" and "Running Water." Of course, like Gordon, these players had been affected by Lester Young, but it seemed that in addition to getting inspiration directly from Pres., they were digging the Gordon translation, too. If a 12-inch, Mercury 78rpm of "Rosetta" and "I've Found a New Baby," cut with Harry Edison, demonstrated that Dexter could get very close to Young, the original version of "Groovin' High," made with Dizzy Gillespie for Guild in February of 1945, showed a Gordon who had his own interpretation of the day's material. 

Gordon worked at the Spotlite Club with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Bud Powell and then had his own group at the Three Dueces. The weekly Sunday afternoon sessions at the Fraternal Clubhouse and Lincoln Square Center usually included Dex as part of their all-star line-ups. His presence, before he even blew a note, always had an electric effect on the audience. 

Gordon returned to the West Coast in the summer of 1946 but not before he had made several recordings with his own groups. He played for two months in Hawaii with C.P. Johnson. Then, in California, in the summer of 1947, he and Wardell Gray teamed up at concerts, after-hours sessions and for their recording of "The Chase." Later that year, it was back to New York and 52nd Street for Gordon but in 1948, he went home again, not to return to Manhattan until the May 1961 trip to record for Blue Note. 

He revived his association with Gray in 1950 but that soon ended and the next decade was not a very productive one for Dexter. The popularity of "West Coast" jazz left little opportunity for his brand of virile music to be heard in Southern California. Then, too, he was fighting personal demons. In the last five years of the '50s, he made only three record dates (two as leader) and worked sporadically in a small group context. 

The '60s are a decade of new promise for Gordon. Through playwright Carl Thaler, he became involved in the West Coast version of Jack Gelber's The Connection. He composed an original score[eventually released by Blue Note as Dexter Calling], led the quartet that played it on stage and held down a main speaking role. His success gave him a new confidence and led to a general revitalization. 

Although his presence has not been directly felt on the jazz scene as a whole in a long time, Dexter has been with us, in part, through the work of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, two of the most important instrumentalists to develop in the '50s. Both owe a debt to Gordon for helping them to form their now highly personal styles. It is interesting to hear how Gordon, in turn, has now picked up on developments brought about by the men he originally influenced. Make no mistake, however, about Dexter. He is still very much his own man. His great inner power stands out in these recordings. He breathes maturity in every phrase he plays, his gigantic sound living up to the kind of musical voice one would expect from a person of his god-like dimensions. 

--Ira Gitler, from the liner notes, Doin' Allright, Blue Note

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Artist Biography by: Richard V. Duffy 

The only musician ever nominated for an Oscar was, "Dexter 'LTD' Gordon (Long Tall Dexter)," for his role in the most praised jazz film of all time, Bertrand Tavernier's, "Round Midnight"; titled for Theolonius Monk's signature composition. In Tavernier's jazz classic, Dexter plays expatriate, "Dale Turner," whose mission was to depict a great creative artist, and reveal the pain which often accompanies the exploration of beauty; an ongoing search for new melodic lines and harmonies that prevail within the full musical spectrum...that is be-bop. 

On October 16, 1986, I had the pleasure of attending the Hollywood Premier of "Round Midnight;" I was a guest of KLON, Long Beach; they were playing one of my charts at the time. Seeing and hearing Dexter in person was an exciting and emotional experience to behold. But seeing this 'sophisticated giant,' who stood 6' 5" tall, the foremost tenor saxophonist of the be-bop era, on that silver screen, not as big as life-bigger than life, was an experience I will remember as long as I live. 

Producer Tavernier hired Gordon for the leading role in Round Midnight after paying him a visit at his New York apartment; he was bewildered at what he saw. "I had to wait because he was sleeping, but when he entered the room I was really affected, just by the way he walked. Watching him come into the room, I had the impression that he was going to fall down and die on the spot. I don't know who else could project that." 

Gordon's portrayal of Dale Turner in the film was truly captivating; when he was on stage, that's all you could see; he dominated the screen with his lofty and tottering presence. And with his raspy voice, which is probably a few octaves below the average human voice, he dominated the sound-on stage and off. 

On the film set, Dexter hung photographs of Charlie Parker and Lester Young in his trailer. And before every scene, he would meditate upon them. He told producer, Tavernier, that he felt a responsibility to the two idols because he had an opportunity to bring their jazz personas to the screen. 

At one point in the film, Dale turner visits a French psychiatrist to discuss his pain dilemma. And with a hands-out-from-his-head jester, he tells the shrink, "My life is music...my love is music..." and with hands moving he finishes, "And it's...twenty-four...hours..a..DAY." 

Born and raised in Watts, Ca., Dexter's father was an LA physician whose patients included Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. While in his early teens, Dexter fell under the sophisticated preponderance of Lester Young and later, mastered the extroverted resonance or Illinois Jacquet and the complex harmonies of Charlie Parker. 

Dexter was the first 'real' be-bop tenor saxophonist. At 17, he started with the Lionel Hampton orchestra, and before he was 30, he had adorned the stages of some of the top names in jazz history, including Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Billy Ekstine; his be-bop-chops were glowing. 

Producer Bertrand Tavernier had this to say about be-bop..."Be-bop musicians are the real geniuses of America. They created the only music in America that has never been co-opted or bastardized by the system." And says Dizzy Gillespie, "It is the most serious music ever made in America, and a lot of people have died for it." Theolonius Monk has this to say..."If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom." And Dexter offers..."Be-bop is such a light name for such a demanding music." 

Monk spoke of the meaning of freedom, and Tavernier relates this to the film..."I tried to reflect this spirit in the structure of the film: no intricate plots, no twists, but a free flow of voice-overs, time lapses, flash-forwards in the middle of the film, and the laying of one musical number over another." 

In 1962, Dexter played a two week gig at Ronnie Scotts in London. Here he premiered his laid-back behind-the-beat phrasing; the gig was so successful, he decided to stay on. He found the racial climate quite relaxed, and eventually, he found home in Copenhagen. During his fifteen-year stay in Europe, he made a few sojourns, and during one, he performed at Storrytowne in New York. On opening night, the place was bulging with peers and fans; Dexter received a standing ovation after every set. One of his fans that night was Bruce Lundvall, president of CBS Records Group; subsequently, Dexter was signed by Columbia. 

Dexter returned to New York in 1976. Then, in 1980, he was elected to the "Jazz Hall of Fame." And in 1978 and 1980, Downbeat Magazine named him the "Musician of The Year." 

Gordon had a remarkable comprehension of the harmonic structure of chords. As Jimmy Heath once said. "Nobody knows chords like Dexter." From his album, "The Best of Dexter," when we listen to his acappella coda at the end of "Body and Soul," we hear an emotionally commanded, astounding exhibition of his inimitable saxophone prowess. 

When it comes to playing ballads, there's Dexter Gordon, and then there's...........? From his 1982 album, "Dexter Gordon-American Classics," in an interview, Dexter had this to say about ballads. "When you know the lyrics to a tune...you have some kind of insight as to it's composition...if you don't understand what it's about, your're depriving yourself of being really able to communicate this poem." With longish tones emanating from the lowest register of his horn, Dexter ranks among the few most thoughtful and articulate ballad players existent. 

Before Dexter gives the downbeat for a ballad, and at times, an up-tempo standard, he usually verbalizes, in his low-pitched, raspy voice, the first few lines, and sometimes, the first eight bars, of the lyrics. And when the tune comes to an end, Dexter's method of cutting the band off is anything but...conventional; with his horn hanging form his neck, his arms out to the side, he does a few half-knee bends while his side-men exercise a few moments of musical freedom. With one last knee-bend, his hands come down ending the tune. Dexter does not excercise a conventional bow, rather, his signature bow; holding his horn in a horizontal fashion, he turns to thank the audience for their generous applause...bowing his head; truly a dramatic performance in itself.

During interviews, Dexter has made many quotes that, to this day, still ring in the ears of so many. Here are a few: "Darlin...be-bop is the music of the future." "If you can't play the blues...you might as well hang it up." And, from the back of one of my videos, "...Jazz to me is a living music. It's a music that since it's beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people." And when I think of the tremendous amount of music within his musical self, I can see him, with his hands held at the side of his head as he says, "A...reservoir...of sounds..." 

On Wednesday, April 25th, 1990, the free spirited saxophone signature of the be-bop era, whose dispirited demeanor and laconic wit gracefully adorned the stages and sets of that jazz classic, "Round Midnight," did his last gig...here. However, it is my intuitive and spiritual guess that, Dexter is fronting his own group at...'that big gig in the sky.' 

The day after his passing, I received two phone calls from lady friends, also friends of Dexter's; they asked how I was feeling, and suggested I get out my 'ax' and start wood-shedding. When I didn't show too much excitement, they came up with, "Richard, you're the only one that can sound like him." 

Dexter left behind a legacy of records, videos, and...memories; his performances still ring in the eyes, ears, and hearts of so many...especially my own; such as his lyricism and mannerisms emanating from a...'composite of Dexter.' 

Before I leave Dexter, a few rounds about the Academy Awards of February, 1987. The Oscar for best actor 'did not' go to Dexter Gordon; it went to .... ......! Was it because he was black; he wasn't a member of the Screen Actors Guild? At the time, critics had said, Dexter wasn't acting, he was just being himself. For most, it's history now...but not for me! 

He towered over most, but not just because of his 6'5" stance. He was towering on the inside-with pride-pride for what he brought to the 'silver screen.' In the classic jazz film, one that had an ambiance unique only unto itself, "Round Midnight," Dexter's role as Dale Turner exemplified more than some know; the trials and tribulations of an archetypal of jazz/be-bop musicians as they excercise their search for beauty-the expansion of musical sonorities-new harmonic horizons. 

At the time, Dexter may not have been aware of this but, in the film, he gave inspiration and hope to so many-musicians and non-musicians alike......I am one of those musicians. "THANK YOU DEXTER"

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Dexter Gordon began to play clarinet at the age of 13 and studied music with Lloyd Reese, during which time he played in a rehearsal band with other pupils of Reese, including Charles Mingus and Buddy Collette. In 1940, he began a long engagement with Lionel Hampton's touring band, with which he took part in a recording session in 1942. After leaving Hampton in 1943, Gordon made his first lengthy solo recordings as the leader of a quintet session with Nat "King" Cole as a sideman. He worked in the Los Angeles area with Lee Young, Jesse Price, and, for a few weeks in April and May 1944, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (some of his performances with Henderson survive in recordings made from broadcasts). 

After playing briefly with Louis Armstrong, he moved to New York in December 1944 to appear in Billy Eckstine's orchestra. His recordings with Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, and others soon made him a leading figure in the bop movement. Gordon returned to California in summer 1946 and played with the drummer Cee Pee Johnson in Honolulu for two months, and then for the remainder of the decade he continued to work alternately on the East and West coasts. He appeared with Tadd Dameron in New York early in 1949, and joined fellow tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray for a popular and sensational series of "saxophone duels" between 1947 and 1952. Difficulties associated with drug addiction curtailed his activities during the 1950s, but these problems had been resolved by 1960 when he served as composer, musician, and actor in the West Coast production of Jack Gelber's play The Connection. Thereafter, he toured and recorded principally as a leader, moving back to New York early in 1962. 

In September 1962, Gordon performed in London and then made a tour of Europe that was so successful he remained there for the next 15 years, taking infrequent trips to the USA. Based in Copenhagen, he appeared at all the major jazz festivals, taught, and recorded prolifically; he also toured Japan in autumn 1975. Encouraged by a visit to New York in 1976, however, he returned permanently to the USA the following year. He was elected to the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980 and named "musician of the year" by readers of Down Beat magazine in 1978 and 1980. As the star of the feature film Round Midnight (1986), Gordon was the subject of renewed interest in the late 1980s. He received a nomination for an Academy Award for his role. 

Gordon was a major force in the emergence of modern tenor saxophone styles. His main influence was Lester Young, but he also displays an extroverted intensity reminiscent of Herschel Evans and Illinois Jacquet. His rich, vibrant sound, harmonic awareness, behind-the-beat phrasing, and predilection for C humorous quotations combine to create a unique style. Gordon's music strongly affected the two leading tenor saxophonists of the succeeding generation, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Gordon was later influenced in turn by Coltrane, and even, following Coltrane's example, adopted the soprano saxophone during the late 1970s. A volume of transcriptions of his performances has been published by L. Niehaus (Dexter Gordon Jazz Saxophone Solos: Transcriptions from the Original Recordings, Hollywood, CA, 1979). 

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For personal, non-commercial use only. Copying or other reproduction is prohibited.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_gordon_dexter.htm

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Discography

As Leader

Dexter Rides Again (1945)
The Hunt w Wardell Gray (1947)
The Duel w Teddy Edwards (1947)
The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon (1960)
Doin' Alright (1961), Blue Note Records
Dexter Calling (1961), Blue Note
Go! (1962), Blue Note
A Swingin' Affair (1962), Blue Note
Our Man in Paris (Paris 1963), Blue Note
One Flight Up (Paris, 1964) - Blue Note
King Neptune (1964)
Gettin' Around (New York, 1965)
Tangerine (1965)
Tower of Power (1969) - w James Moody
More Power (1969)
The Panther (1970) w Tommy Flanagan and Alan Dawson. Prestige Records
The Chase (1970) w Gene Ammons Prestige
Tangerine (1972) hard bop with Freddie Hubbard and others - Prestige
The Apartment (1974) - SteepleChase
Something Different (1975), SteepleChase
Bouncin' with Dex (1975), SteepleChase
Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard (1976)
True Blue w/ Al Cohn (1976; Xanadu Records)
Silver Blue w/ Al Cohn (1976; Xanadu Records)
Sophisticated Giant (1977) with 11-piece big-band including Woody Shaw, Slide Hampton, Bobby Hutcherson - Columbia Records
Gotham City (1980), Columbia Records
Round Midnight (Soundtrack) (1986), Columbia Records
The Other Side of Round Midnight (1986) Blue Note Records
American Classic (released posthumously 1993)
Biting The Apple (1976) - SteepleChase