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Dexter Gordon
was one of the most stylish of Jazz players throughout the decades. His
tall six-foot five frame combined with his style of playing gave him an
air of calm authority. Add to this his stylish appearance (nobody knew how
to wear a suit better then Dexter Gordon, not even Miles Davis) and it is
easy to see that this was a man who stood out from the crowd. Dexter Keith
Gordon was a middle class child from Los Angeles who learned his trade in
local big bands and, by the age of 17, played with Lionel Hampton. Four
years later he joined the legendary and ground-breaking Billy Eckstine bebop
outfit and gradually through the late 40s he became established as one of
the top bebop tenor men. In 1945 he moved to New York where he jammed with
the bebop heavyweights like Charlie Parker
and Dizzy Gillespie, but by 1948 he was
back in LA teaming up with fellow tenor player Wardell Gray. Like so many
of his fellow Jazz musicians he suffered in the 1950s from heroin addiction
and spent the majority of the decade in jail due to drug busts. Thankfully,
in the early 60s he straightened out and emerged stronger than ever before
and started a recording relationship with Blue Note. Many of the albums
recorded in that period remain classics to this day (amongst which the album
Go
still stands out). In 1962 he accepted an invitation to perform at Ronnie
Scott's club in London. He was so overwhelmed by the reception he received
from the European audiences and by the invitations that flooded in from
continental clubs, that he prolonged his stay in Europe. In the end it lasted
more than 15 years, first settling in Paris, later moving to Copenhagen
where he lived playing and recording prolifically until 1977. A 1976 return
tour in the States led to many invitations to clubs and festivals that he
decided to come back to the US where he was welcomed back with open arms.
His career continued successfully until the mid-80s when his health began
to fail. However, one last great swansong remained when he was cast as the
lead acting role in the 1986 film 'Round
Midnight, a story about a hard drinking American Jazzman in Paris,
loosely based on the experiences of Lester Young and Bud
Powell. The role fitted him to a tee and very little acting was actually
required. The movie was a hit earning Dexter an Oscar nomination. His body
eventually succumbed to a variety of illnesses associated with his hard-lived
existence and he died in 1990. |
