Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon is considered to be the first musician to translate the language of Bebop to the tenor saxophone.

Dexter Keith Gordon was born on February 27, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Dr. Frank Gordon, was one of the first African American doctors in Los Angeles who arrived in 1918 after graduating from Howard 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 Baker, one of the five African American Medal of Honor recipients in the Spanish-American War.

He began his study of music with the clarinet at age 13, then switched to the alto saxophone at 15, and finally to the tenor saxophone at 17. He studied music with Lloyd Reese and at Jefferson High School with Sam Browne. In his last year of high school, he received a call from alto saxophonist Marshall Royal asking him to join the Lionel Hampton Band. He left Los Angeles with the band, traveling down south and learning to play from fellow band members Illinois Jacquet and Joe Newman. In January 1941, the band played at the Grand Terrace in Chicago for six months and the radio broadcasts made there were Dexter’s first recordings.

It was in 1943, while in New York City with the Hampton band, that Dexter sat in at Minton’s Playhouse with Ben Webster and Lester Young. This was to be one of the most important moments in his long musical career as, as he put it, “people started to take notice.”

Back in Los Angeles in 1943, Dexter played mainly with Lee Young (Lester Young’s brother) and with Jesse Price plus a few weeks with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. In 1944, he worked with Louis Armstrong ‘s orchestra which was one of the highlights of his careers. Being in the company of the great trumpet master was inspiring and gave him insight into the world of music that he never forgot. It was during this period that Gordon made his first lengthy solo recordings as the leader of a quintet session with Nat "King" Cole as a sideman.

In 1944, Dexter joined the Billy Eckstine band, the source of many of the Bebop innovators of the time and many of the most prominent bandleaders in the future. He was surrounded nightly by Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Leo Parker, John Malachi, and other architects of the new music.

Dexter began to record for Savoy Records in 1945 with tunes such as Blow Mr. Dexter, Dexter’s Deck, Dexter’s Cuttin’ Out, Long Tall Dexter (none of which were named by the composer). These early recordings are examples of the development of his sound and his style which influenced many of the younger tenor players of that day, including Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.

In 1947, Dexter recorded his historic sides for Dial Records, including “The Chase” with tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. The two tenor “duels” became very popular at this time and Dexter commented that despite the differences in style, it was sometimes hard for him to tell where one left off and the other began. This recording was to become the biggest seller for Dial and further established Dexter as a leader and a recording artist.

In the late 40s, Dexter appeared on the famed 52nd Street in New York City with Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, Max Roach, and many of the bebop innovators of the day. The classic photo of Dexter at the Royal Roost in 1948 has become the iconic photo of the bebop musician and has been reprinted on album covers, t- shirts, posters, and print ads.

In 1960, Dexter was approached by Alfred Lion to sign with Blue Note Records. For five years, he made on session after another, and they are all considered classics. When asked which of all his recordings was his favorite, Dexter said: “I would have to say it is Go! The perfect rhythm section which made is possible for me to play whatever I wanted to play.”

The Blue Note recordings allowed him the opportunity to record with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Barry Harris, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan, Bud Powell, Billy Higgins. The Blue Note recordings are still available and are considered jazz classics.

A gig in 1962 at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London was a new experience for Dexter and he began to travel and work in Europe. Eventually, he settled in Copenhagen where he lived until his return to the U.S. in 1976. During that period in Europe, he traveled extensively, worked for long periods at the historic Jazzhus Montmartre and recorded for European labels as well as Prestige Records.

In 1976, Dexter enjoyed a hero's welcome in the U.S. when he made his return engagement at Storyville in New York City with Woody Shaw, Louis Hayes, Ronnie Mathews, and Stafford James. He subsequently played the Village Vanguard, signed with Columbia Records, and was officially back in town. He organized his first working band during this period with George Cables, Rufus Reid, and Eddie Gladden. He considered this band to be his best band and he toured extensively with them and recorded Live at the Keystone (Mosaic) and Manhattan Symphonie (CBS Sony) with the group.

In 1986, Dexter moved into his new career, acting, in the motion picture Round Midnight which was directed by Bertrand Tavernier. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Leading Actor in 1986 for his portrayal of Dale Turner, a character based on the lives of Lester Young and Bud Powell. The music for the film won an Oscar for musical director, Herbie Hancock. The film included fellow musicians Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Higgins, Cedar Walton, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Pierre Michelot, John McLaughlin, and Wayne Shorter.

Dexter Gordon’s last major concert appearance was with the New York Philharmonic in Ellingtones, a concerto written for him by acclaimed composer David Baker and conducted by James de Priest.

Dexter died on April 25, 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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by David Brown
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Album Review

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by Richard J Salvucci
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Book Review

Dexter Gordon - Sophisticated Giant. La biografia del grande sassofonista

by Angelo Leonardi
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Radio & Podcasts

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by Russell Perry
October 8, 2019

After spending most of the 1950s in jail for two different drug busts, Dexter Gordon was paroled in 1960 and preceded to record a legendary series of records for Blue Note Records. Several of these records included rhythm sections led by the light-fingered but short-lived pianist, Sonny Clark. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Dexter Gordon Quintet. “I Was Doing All Right" from Doin' Allright (Blue Note) 3:40 Dexter Gordon Quintet. “You've Changed" from Doin' Allright (Blue Note) 12:57 Host ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jazz on Central Avenue - Bebop in Los Angeles (1945 - 1948)

by Russell Perry
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Most of the pioneering bebop musicians we have featured in the past several programs were based in New York—Bird, Dizzy, Monk, Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson, Max Roach. While New York may have dominated the modern music scene, it wasn't the only scene. The wartime economy in southern California brought an influx of African-American workers, not dissimilar to Chicago in the 1920s, and with them musicians, nightclubs and dance halls. “Bebop was born in Harlem ...

Album Review

Dexter Gordon: Espace Cardin 1977

Read "Espace Cardin 1977" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
April 16, 2019

Pur non aggiungendo nulla rispetto a quanto si è già ampiamente ascoltato di Dexter Gordon, Espace Cardin 1977 è un CD da tenere in considerazione per diverse ragioni. Ritroviamo l'allora cinquantacinquenne sassofonista ad un nuovo punto di svolta della sua già fulgida trentennale carriera, appena rilanciata dal contratto discografico con la Sony. Questo set parigino è uno degli ultimi suoi concerti europei antecedenti il ritorno negli Stati Uniti e ne documenta il felice connubio con Al Haig, altro artista dal ...

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by Joe Dimino
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Dexter Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci
February 27, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Dexter Gordon's birthday today!

Dexter Gordon is considered to be the first musician to translate the language of Bebop to the tenor saxophone. Dexter Keith Gordon was born on February 27, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Dr. Frank Gordon, was one of the first African American doctors in Los Angeles who arrived in 1918 after graduating from Howard Medical School in Washington, D.C. Among his patients were Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Dexter's ...
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Video / DVD

Dexter Gordon: 'Soul Sister'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 13, 2022

When Dexter Gordon moved to Europe alone in 1962, he hoped his then wife, Jodi, and his daughters would join him. But once there, he created a new life in Europe and the couple divorced mid-decade, writes Maxine Gordon, the tenor saxophonist's road manager and widow, in her moving and well researched memoir, Sophisticated Giant. Gordon had a lot to forget, but those sad memories had nothing to do with his family and everything to do with California. The state ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Dexter Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci
February 27, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Dexter Gordon's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Dexter Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci
February 27, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Dexter Gordon's birthday today!

Book / Magazine

Maxine Gordon on Dexter Gordon

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 20, 2020

Dexter Gordon was a remarkable tenor saxophonist. A towering, dashing figure with an embracing smile and a wry sense of humor, Gordon was a powerful player whose bebop approach was equally assertive and romantic. [Photo above of Maxine Gordon by Fiona Ross, courtesy of Maxine Gordon] A bebop star in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, Gordon didn't tour or record for much of the 1950s due to incarceration for heroin use. Nevertheless, Gordon made up for lost time in ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Dexter Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci
February 27, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Dexter Gordon's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Dexter in Denmark, 1962

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 12, 2019

At a New York bar In 1962, Dexter Gordon ran into saxophonist Ronnie Scott, the co-owner of Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Scott asked Gordon if he wanted to work there. Gorden, as his wife, Maxine, notes in her 2018 book, The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, had never been out of the country except for a brief visit to Mexico just over the border. Gordon surely asked Scott about pay and any other incentives he wanted. Then ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Dexter Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci
February 27, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Dexter Gordon's birthday today!

Recording

Dexter Gordon: Live, '63 + '77

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 13, 2018

In 1962, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon moved his base of operations to Copenhagen, Denmark, returning to the U.S. in 1976. Shortly after his move abroad, Gordon was recorded live at the Modern Jazz Club Persepolis in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on January 20, 1963. And shortly after his move back to the States, he was recorded at Espace Cardin, in Paris, on September 25, 1977. Both recordings have just been released and both are superb, capturing Gordon at the start of ...
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Video / DVD

Dexter Gordon and Karin Krog

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 30, 2018

Dexter Gordon accompanied more vocalists than you might imagine. There was Helen Humes in 1950, Gladys Bentley in 1952, Kitty White in 1965, Pony Poindexter in 1966, Vi Redd in 1970, Miriam Klein in 1973, Eddie Jefferson in 1978 and Tony Bennett in 1990. In the mid-1940s, while in Lionel Hampton's band, Gordon accompanied Rubel Blakey; in Louis Armstrong's band in 1944, Gordon and the band accompanied Velma Middleton, Jimmy Ross and Pops himself; and with Benny Carter in 1946 ...
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