Results for "Dexter Gordon"

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

Clovis Grognuz: Young Man with Horn of Plenty

By NICHOLAS F. MONDELLO

With thousands of viewers and followers on Facebook and You Tube, Swiss saxophonist Clovis Grognuz has become a worldwide saxophone-playing sensation. Astonished eyes and ears have witnessed this talented and dedicated young man performing the legendary saxophone solos—those of John Coltrane ("Giant Steps"), Charlie Parker ("Just Friends"), et al—simultaneously and note for note with the great ...

Denys Baptiste: Pathfinder For The New London Jazz

By CHRIS MAY

Bandleader, composer and educator Denys Baptiste is among the generation of musicians, many of them of Caribbean or African heritage, who pointed the way for the younger players who have emerged on the London jazz scene since around 2015. Baptiste's contemporaries include saxophonists Jason Yarde, Soweto Kinch, Steve Williamson and Courtney Pine, and trumpeter Byron Wallen, ...

Alexa Tarantino: Passion For Playing And Teaching

By R.J. DELUKE

Alexa Tarantino was bitten by the jazz bug at a young age. She was fortunate to grow up in a community where jazz is an important part of the musical fabric—rare these days. She swiftly grabbed hold of the music and has developed into an in-demand alto saxophonist, earning a series of high-profile gigs that slowed ...

Yuri Honing: Sounds And Vision

By IAN PATTERSON

Strange that such a gruesome tale, drowning in blood, could have inspired so much great art. So it goes with Bluebeard, the seventeenth century French folktale, which continues to inspire artists to this day. Dutch saxophonist/composer Yuri Honing's Bluebeard (2020)-- his fourth album on Challenge Records with his acoustic quartet--is not just a highly personal take ...

Sir Stevie: Jammin' on Stevie Wonder - Part 1

By LUDOVICO GRANVASSU

Stevie Wonder has more entries in the Real Book than any other pop musician, The Beatles included. It is not surprising therefore that his Songbook has been mined by hundreds of jazz musicians, including the likes of Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dexter Gordon or Herbie Hancock. To mark the 70th birthday of ...

The Second Acts of Art Pepper, Dexter Gordon, & Johnny Griffin (1975 - 1985)

By RUSSELL PERRY

Perfectly timed to reinforce the value of acoustic mainstream jazz and provide an alternative to both fusion and free jazz, Art Pepper, Dexter Gordon and Johnny Griffin reappeared and reestablished themselves as key players at the end of the 1970s. Their excellent late career work paved the way for the resurgence of mainstream bebop and hard ...

Scott Robinson: Tenormore

By ANGELO LEONARDI

Da tre decenni Scott Robinson è figura onnipresente nelle orchestre e nei gruppi d'orientamento mainstream: ha registrato venti album da leader e partecipato a più di 270 dischi. Venticinque anni al sax baritono con Maria Schneider e poi con Bob Mintzer, John Fedchock, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Kimbrough, Ron Carter, Joe Lovano, Paquito D'Rivera, Bob Wilber (ma ...

Cesar Cardoso: Dice of Tenors

By JACK BOWERS

Dice of Tenors is Portuguese-bred tenor saxophonist Cesar Cardoso's ardent salute to a half-dozen of the world's foremost tenor saxophone masters: Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson and Benny Golson. To carry out that purpose, Cardoso has convened an admirable octet on which he shares the front line with trumpeter Jason Palmer, ...