With his energy, intelligence, and emotional involvement, Dexter Gordon set new standards for his instrument, the tenor saxophone, and helped to introduce it into the world of modern jazz. Gordon played a major role in the bebop revolution, and provided inspirational playing in that area, working with some highly distinguished contemporaries. Gordon emanated an extraordinary excitement when playing and the live performances that make up a large slice of his four decades of recordings are the perfect vehicle for capturing this rare quality. Known best for his work with the tenor saxophone, Gordon also turned his hand to the soprano saxophone.
Born in Los Angeles in 1923, Gordon took up the clarinet in his early teens and then spent the early and mid-1940s putting in time on the tenor saxophone with some of the most prominent big bands of the day—those of Lionel Hampton, Fletcher HENDERSON, Louis ARMSTRONG, and Billy Eckstine.
This was the golden era of bebop’s emergence, and Gordon was for a while the new music’s star tenor, mixing with the likes of Charlie PARKER and Dizzy GILLESPIE, and developing a style marked by a rich lyrical imagination and laid-back phrasing—he played in a relaxed style behind the beat.
Gordon could create smooth, lush music that was the height of jazz-ballad sophistication as well as producing punchier sounds that were filled with amusing musical references.
Returning to his home city of Los Angeles in 1946, Gordon got the chance to strengthen his form in live and recorded “duels” with fellow modern tenors Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards.
Sadly, the 1950s were blighted by drug-related problems for Gordon that included convictions for possession. This put something of a halt on Gordon’s recorded output, but by the early 1960s he recovered and finally rose from the ashes, beginning a fruitful alliance with the Blue Note record label.
Despite having a strong American base, Gordon now relocated to Europe, where live performances at world-renowned clubs such as Copenhagen’s Montmartre—often as part of an all-Danish or Danish-and-American group—resulted in numerous live albums. He spent nearly 14 years in Copenhagen and became something of a lost legend, until, that is, his triumphant return visit to the U.S. in 1976–77, during which he was greeted by sell-out crowds and made more live recordings, touring from New York’s Village Vanguard club to San Francisco’s Keystone Korner.
Encouraged by this home-grown enthusiasm, Gordon moved back to the U.S. Although poor health began to slow him down by the early 1980s, he enjoyed yet another revival with his memorable appearance— and his soundtrack music—in French director Bertrand Ta vernier’s acclaimed 1986 movie, Round Midnight, in which he portrayed a much-revered but troubled jazz expatriate living in Paris.
Gordon’s character in the movie was said to be a composite of two departed legends—saxophonist Lester YOUNG, who had always been a major influence on Gordon’s work, and pianist Bud POWELL. But jazz fans had little trouble perceiving the emotional honesty behind his powerful performance, rooted in Gordon’s personal, sometimes sad, experiences of working and living in Europe.
Gordon’s acting proved as inspired as his playing, and he earned an Academy Award nomination. Unfortunately, this was not to be the start of a flourishing career in the movies, and he took just one further small role. Four years after he made Round Midnight, Gordon died after years of ill health.
Jeff Kaliss
SEE ALSO:
BEBOP; EUROPEAN JAZZ; FILM MUSIC; HARD BOP.
FURTHER READING
Britt, Stan. Long Tall Dexter, Dexter Gordon A Musical Biography (New York: Da Capo Press, 1989).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Go; Nights at the Keystone; The Other Side of Midnight.