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

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, ...

Blue Note Review 2: Spirit & Time and More

By MARC COHN

Lots of cool features this week. First, Side 2 of the new-music LP from 2nd limited-edition Blue Note Review box with drummers Tony Allen and Chris Dave reimagining Tony Williams compositions. Then, a deep dive into the Savoy vaults from 1947 with recreations of 78s by Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro and Dexter Gordon. Celebrating Sonny Rollins ...

Don Cherry: Cherry Jam

By KARL ACKERMANN

In the same year that composer/multi-instrumentalist Don Cherry recorded his milestone Complete Communion (Blue Note, 1966) he took his cornet to the studio of Danish National Radio. Cherry had established himself by the early 1960s, playing with Steve Lacy, Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, John Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and Ed Blackwell. Copenhagen began ...

Two Twin-Tenor Duos

By JEROME WILSON

The idea of two tenor saxophonists playing together has a long, storied history in jazz through pairings like Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, and Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. Such duos have become harder to find in recent years but here are two newer examples. Jeff Rupert / ...