Dexter Gordon


Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was, so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant". His studio and performance career spanned more than 40 years.
Gordon's sound was commonly characterized as being "large" and spacious and he had a tendency to play behind the beat. He inserted musical quotes into his solos, with sources as diverse as "Happy Birthday" and well-known melodies from the operas of Wagner. Quoting from various musical sources is not unusual in jazz improvisation, but Gordon did it frequently enough to make it a hallmark of his style. One of his major influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Rollins and Coltrane then influenced Gordon's playing as he explored hard bop and modal playing during the 1960s.
Gordon had a genial and humorous stage presence. He was an advocate of playing to communicate with the audience, which was his musical approach as well. One of his idiosyncratic rituals was to recite lyrics from each ballad before playing it. In an interview pianist Dave Bass recalled, "Dexter would get up to the microphone, holding his horn horizontally, and he'd say 'You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.' It was a little bit of a shtick, but it was how he approached a song, and I remember that."
A photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon taking a smoke break at the Royal Roost in 1948 is one of the iconic images in jazz photography. Cigarettes were a recurring theme on covers of Gordon's albums.
Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the Bertrand Tavernier film Round Midnight, and he won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist, for the soundtrack album The Other Side of Round Midnight. He also had a cameo role in the 1990 film Awakenings. In 2018, Gordon's album Go was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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Early life and education

Dexter Keith Gordon was born on February 27, 1923, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Frank Gordon, one of the first African-American medical doctors in Los Angeles, arrived in 1918 after graduating from Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C. Among his patients were Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Dexter's mother, Gwendolyn Baker, was the daughter of Captain Edward Lee Baker, Jr. one of the five African-American Medal of Honor recipients in the Spanish–American War.
Gordon began his study of music with the clarinet at the age of 13, then switched to the alto saxophone at 15, and finally to the tenor saxophone at 17. He studied with multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Reese while attending Thomas Jefferson High School, and studied with the school’s band director, Sam Browne. While still at school, he played in bands with such contemporaries as Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette.
In 1942, Gordon was drafted into the U.S. Army following America's entry in the Second World War. He was assigned to the Signal Corps for two years and was stationed in North Africa, where he served as a radio operator and played trumpet in a military band. Between December 1940 and 1943, Gordon was a member of Lionel Hampton's band, playing in a saxophone section alongside Illinois Jacquet and Marshal Royal. During 1944, Gordon was featured in the Fletcher Henderson band, followed by the Louis Armstrong band, before joining Billy Eckstine. The 1942–44 musicians' strike curtailed the recording of the Hampton, Henderson, and Armstrong bands; however, they were recorded on V-Discs produced by the Army for broadcast and distribution among overseas troops. In 1943, he was featured, alongside Harry "Sweets" Edison, in recordings under Nat Cole for a small label not affected by the strike.

Career

Bebop era recordings

By late 1944, Gordon was resident in New York, a regular at bebop jam sessions, and a featured soloist in the Billy Eckstine big band. During early 1945, he was featured on recordings by Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Thompson. In late 1945, Gordon was recording under his own name for the Savoy label. His Savoy recordings during 1945–46 included Blow Mr. Dexter, Dexter's Deck, Dexter's Minor Mad, Long Tall Dexter, Dexter Rides Again, I Can't Escape From You,and Dexter Digs In.
He returned to Los Angeles in late 1946 and in 1947 was leading sessions for Ross Russell's Dial label. After his return to Los Angeles, he became known for his saxophone duels with fellow tenorman Wardell Gray, which were a popular concert attraction documented in recordings made between 1947 and 1952. The Hunt gained literary fame from its mention in Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which also contains descriptions of wild tenormen jamming in Los Angeles. Cherokee, Byas a Drink, and Disorder at the Border are other live recordings of the Gray/Gordon duo from the same concert. In December 1947, Gordon recorded again with the Savoy label. Through the mid-to-late 1940s, he continued to work as a sideman on sessions led by Russell Jacquet, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Ralph Burns, Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Gerry Mulligan, Wynonie Harris, Leo Parker, and Tadd Dameron.

The 1950s

During the 1950s, Gordon's recorded output and live appearances declined as heroin addiction and legal troubles took their toll. Gordon made a concert appearance with Wardell Gray in February 1952 and appeared as a sideman in a session led by Gray in June 1952. After an incarceration at Chino Prison from 1953 to 1955, he recorded the albums Daddy Plays the Horn and Dexter Blows Hot and Cool in 1955 and played as a sideman on the Stan Levey album, This Time the Drum's on Me. The latter part of the decade saw him in and out of prison until his final release from Folsom Prison in 1959. He was one of the initial sax players for the Onzy Matthews big band in 1959, along with Curtis Amy. Gordon continued to champion Matthews' band after he left Los Angeles for New York, but left for Europe before getting a chance to record with that band. He recorded The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon in 1960. His recordings from the mid-1950s onward document a meander into a smooth West Coast style that lacked the impact of his bebop era recordings or his subsequent Blue Note recordings.
The decade saw Gordon's first entry into the world of drama. He appeared as a member of Art Hazzard's band in the film Young Man with a Horn. He appeared in an uncredited and overdubbed role as a member of a prison band in the movie Unchained, filmed inside Chino. Gordon was a saxophonist performing Freddie Redd's music for the Los Angeles production of Jack Gelber's play The Connection in 1960, replacing Jackie McLean. He contributed two compositions, Ernie's Tune and I Want More to the score and later recorded them for his album Dexter Calling....

New York renaissance

Gordon signed to Blue Note in 1961. He initially commuted from Los Angeles to New York to record, but took up residence when he regained the cabaret card that allowed him to perform where alcohol was served. The Jazz Gallery hosted his first New York performance in twelve years. The Blue Note association was to produce a steady flow of albums for several years, some of which gained iconic status. His New York renaissance was marked by Doin' Allright, Dexter Calling..., Go!, and A Swingin' Affair. The first two were recorded over three days in May 1961 with Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, George Tucker, Al Harewood, and Philly Joe Jones. The last two were recorded in August 1962, with a rhythm section that featured Blue Note regulars Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. Of the two Go! was an expressed favorite. The albums showed his assimilation of the hard bop and modal styles that had developed during his years on the west coast, and the influence of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, whom he had influenced before. The stay in New York turned out to be shortlived, as Gordon got offers for engagements in England, then Europe, that resulted in a fourteen-year stay. Soon after recording A Swingin' Affair, he left the United States.

Years in Europe

Over the next 14 years in Europe, living mainly in Paris and Copenhagen, Gordon played regularly with fellow expatriates or visiting players, such as Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan and Billy Higgins. Blue Note's Francis Wolff supervised Gordon's later sessions for the label on his visits to Europe. The pairing of Gordon with Drew turned out to be one of the classic matchups between a horn player and a pianist, much like Miles Davis with Red Garland or John Coltrane with McCoy Tyner.
From this period came Our Man in Paris, One Flight Up, Gettin' Around, and Clubhouse. Our Man in Paris was a Blue Note session recorded in Paris in 1963 with backup consisting of pianist Powell, drummer Kenny Clarke, and French bassist Pierre Michelot. One Flight Up, recorded in Paris in 1964 with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Kenny Drew, drummer Art Taylor, and Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, features an extended solo by Gordon on the track "Tanya".
Gordon also visited the US occasionally for further recording dates. Gettin' Around was recorded for Blue Note during a visit in May 1965, as was the album Clubhouse which remained unreleased until 1979.
Gordon found Europe in the 1960s a much easier place to live, saying that he experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians. He also stated that on his visits to the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he found the political and social strife disturbing. While in Copenhagen, Gordon and Drew's trio appeared onscreen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film Pornografi – en musical, for which they composed and performed the score.
He switched from Blue Note to Prestige Records. For the label, he recorded bop albums like The Tower of Power! and More Power! with James Moody, Barry Harris, Buster Williams, and Albert "Tootie" Heath; The Panther! with Tommy Flanagan, Larry Ridley, and Alan Dawson; The Jumpin' Blues with Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, and Roy Brooks; The Chase! with Gene Ammons, Jodie Christian, John Young, Cleveland Eaton, Rufus Reid, Wilbur Campbell, Steve McCall, and Vi Redd; and 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.
In addition to the recordings Gordon did under his American label contracts, live recordings by European labels and live video from his European period have been released. In 1975, Dexter Gordon signed an exclusive recording contract with Danish label SteepleChase, for which he recorded some of his most inspired sessions including The Apartment, More Than You Know, Stable Mable, Swiss Nights Vol. 1, 2 and 3, Something Different, Lullaby for a Monster, and not least Biting the Apple, recorded during his homecoming trip to New York, featuring Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Al Foster. The album received the Grand Prix De Jazz in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1977. SteepleChase released live dates from his mid-1960s tenure at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. The video was released in the Jazz Icons series.

Homecoming

Gordon returned to the United States for good in 1976. He appeared with Woody Shaw, Ronnie Mathews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes, for a gig at the Village Vanguard in New York that was dubbed his "homecoming." It was recorded and released by Columbia Records under that title. He observed: "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." In addition to the Homecoming album, a series of live albums was released by Blue Note from his stands at Keystone Korner in San Francisco during 1978 and 1979. They featured Gordon, George Cables, Rufus Reid, and Eddie Gladden. He recorded the studio albums Sophisticated Giant with an eleven-piece big band in 1977 and Manhattan Symphonie with the Live at Keystone Corner crew in 1978. The sensation of Gordon's return, and the continued efforts of Art Blakey through 1970s and early 1980s, have been credited with reviving interest in swinging, melodic, acoustically-based classic jazz sounds after the Fusion jazz era that saw an emphasis on electronic sounds and contemporary pop influences.

Musician Emeritus

In 1978 and 1980, Gordon was the DownBeat Musician of the Year, and in 1980 he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. The US Government honored him with a Congressional Commendation, a Dexter Gordon Day in Washington DC, and in 1986 the National Endowment for the Arts named him a NEA Jazz Master in recognition of his Lifetime Achievement. In 1986, he was named a member and officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France.
During the 1980s, Gordon, a life-long smoker, was weakened by emphysema. He remained a popular attraction at concerts and festivals, although his live appearances and recording dates would soon become infrequent.
Gordon starred in the 1986 movie Round Midnight as "Dale Turner", an expatriate jazz musician in Paris during the late 1950s based loosely on Lester Young and Bud Powell. That portrayal earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In addition, he had a non-speaking role as a piano-playing hospital inmate in the 1990 film Awakenings, which was posthumously released. Before that last film was released, he made a guest appearance on the Michael Mann series Crime Story.
Soundtrack performances from Round Midnight were released as the albums Round Midnight and The Other Side of Round Midnight, featuring original music by Herbie Hancock as well as playing by Gordon. The latter was the last recording released under Gordon's name. He was a sideman on Tony Bennett's 1987 album, Berlin.

Death

Gordon died of kidney failure and smoking-related cancer of the larynx in Philadelphia, on April 25, 1990, at the age of 67.

Family

Gordon's maternal grandfather was Captain Edward L. Baker Jr., who received the Medal of Honor during the Spanish–American War, while serving with the 10th Cavalry Regiment.
Gordon's father, Dr. Frank Gordon, M.D., was one of the first prominent African-American physicians and a graduate of Howard University.
Gordon's uncle, Clifford Myota Gordon, was a charter member of the Alpha Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, seated at the University of Southern California.
When he lived in Denmark, Gordon became friends with the family of future Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and subsequently became Lars's godfather.
Gordon was married three times and had six children: Robin, James, Deirdre, Mikael, Morten and Benjamin.

Instruments and mouthpieces

The earliest photographs of Gordon as a player show him with a Conn 30M "Connqueror" and an Otto Link mouthpiece. Later he adopted the standard Conn tenor, the 10M. In a 1962 interview with the British journalist Les Tomkins, he did not refer to the specific model of mouthpiece but stated that it was made for him personally. He stated that it was stolen around 1952. In the Tomkins interview he referred to his mouthpiece as a small-chambered piece with a 5* tip opening. He bought a Selmer Mark VI from Ben Webster after he lost his 10M during the trip to Paris. In a DownBeat magazine interview from 1977, he referred to his current mouthpiece as an Otto Link model with a #8 tip opening.

Discography

As a leader

As sideman

With Gene AmmonsThe Chase! Gene Ammons and Friends at Montreux
With Louis Armstrong
  • Dexter Gordon, Vol. 1 Young Dex 1941-1944 Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra 1944-1945 Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Louis Armstrong New Orleans Masters, Vol. 2 Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Louis Armstrong – Chronological Study Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra Various Artists, Louis, Pops And Tram Louis Armstrong Armed Forces Radio Service 1943/44
With Benny CarterThe Fabulous Benny Carter Benny Carter And His Orchestra Various Artists – Jazz Off The Air, Vol. 3
With Billy EckstineThe Chronological Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra, 1944-1945 Billy Eckstine, The Legendary Big Band
With Dizzy GillespieDexter Gordon, Vol. 2 Young Dex 1944-1946 Dizzy Gillespie – Groovin' High
With Lionel HamptonDexter Gordon, Vol. 1 Young Dex 1941-1944 Lionel Hampton, Vol. 1: 1941-1942 Decca Jazz Heritage Series DL-79244
With Herbie HancockTakin' Off Round Midnight, Columbia Records
With Fletcher HendersonFletcher Henderson And His Orchestra, Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra,
With Helen HumesVarious Artists – Black California Helen Humes – Be-Baba-Leba 1942-52 Helen Humes – New Million Dollar Secret
With Jackie McLeanThe Meeting The Source
With Gerry MulliganGerry Mulligan – Capitol Jazz Classics, Vol. 4: Walking Shoes Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions
With Leo ParkerThe Be Bop Boys Leo Parker – Birth Of Bop, Vol. 1
With Pony PoindexterPony's Express Stella By Starlight
With Jimmy RushingJimmy Rushing/Don Redman/Russell Jacquet/Joe Thomas – Big Little Bands Black California, Vol. 2: Anthology
With others