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Born February 27, 1923
Died April 25, 1990
"Birdland - Come in and hear Parker, Gillespie, and Powell, for $1."
Dexter appears to be fluent in conversational Danish.
Phil Woods: I think it's very ironic that american's finally discovered Dexter Gordon. Better late than never.
Woody Shaw: He's a living legend on the saxophone. People overlooked him for years. You must remember, the style of John Coltrane comes directly out of Dexter Gordon - like Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heath...The modern sound came from Dexter because he was the most innovative saxophone player at the time.
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09-07-2013 01:47 PM
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That's great long time Dexter fan one of the few legends I did get to see in a club a cherished memory.
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I had the pleasure of seeing him twice in the early 80's in a very nice intimate jazz club. pure magic. you couldn't ask for a better jazz show. he would just weave one lyrical phrase after another, build tension chorus after chorus, hit a peak, and then hand off to the other soloists. truly great stuff. his bassist was Rufus Reid who was also great. I don't remember his pianist or drummer.
he was funny and gracious too.
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" his bassist was Rufus Reid who was also great. I don't remember his pianist or drummer. "
likely George Cables and Eddie Gladden, his working quartet @ the time.
one of my heroes, but on a sad note I visited him when he was in the hospital @ the end and he was in very bad shape. he died a day or two later.
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I think the pianist was Kirk Lightsey, I remember the chrome dome.
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That would make sense too, I saw a video w/Dex @ The Paul Masson Winery w/ Kirk playing piano.
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If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to seek out the 1986 film "Round Midnight" with Dex.
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Turns out that Dexter was a pretty good actor as well as Jazz player.
The film was a little slow moving for my tastes, but still entertaining in that I cared about the characters.
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He was nominated for best actor. Paul Newman won for the color of money though.
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What was the cause of Dexter's death? Throughout the documentary he is constantly filmed smoking, and he acknowledged other drug addictions as well.
Cool guy, but quite likely he sowed the seeds of his own destruction.
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its a shame. he did appear to be a chain smoker. that must have been tough for wind player. the gal I was with in the early 80's at those two shows told me she was worried about him. he liked to goof around a little bit and act loaded or something. he was clearly clowning a bit.
I don't know if he was clean by then or not but he would do this big animated snort somewhat frequently, that I figured was a nervous habit formed by past cocaine use. or maybe current (at that time). I don't really know for sure.
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I have been reading a lot of autobiographies of various musicians. Next up is will be either Art Pepper or Hamptown Hawes, and then maybe Glen Hughes from Deep Purple.
It seems that the music culture of most eras is to live a life that is hard on one's body - but you can have a lot of "fun" in the process while "sowing the seeds of your destruction," be it financial destruction, mental destruction, physical destruction.
Dexter was probably also a product of that environment.
The sad part is the toll it can take on their loved ones.
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Articles about Dexter Gordon - Los Angeles Times
Cause of death was kidney failure at age 67. He also was fighting throat cancer.
Rest in peace, Dex.
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I read the Hampton Hawes book a couple months ago.
The Art Pepper book a few times over the years....strap yourself in for that one.
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Does everyone agree that Dex's lines have as much to offer guitarists as any horn player, ever?
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I agree with Wintermoon - the Art Pepper book is heavy!
Originally Posted by AlsoRan
I've sort of noticed over the years that to me there's generally 2 kinds of junkie jazz musicians
- the ones like Dexter and Bill Evans who maintained a strong work ethic and put out a consistently high level of music throughout their careers
- and the ones like Art Pepper, who at the end of the day put the drugs first and ended up a hollowed out version of their former selves, corrupted by the junk. Lots of vibe to their playing because of all that life experience coming out in the music, but they sound lazy with bad chops cause all their spare time is concerned with scoring and getting high
Anyway, in this day and age I doubt there's hardly any professional jazz musos shooting heroin - given the shrinking of the industry and the rise in living costs it would be nearly impossible, maybe I'm wrong about that
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There's a whole 'nother stigma attached to heroin these days, it's just not associated with smart, arty, cool, boho, rebel hipsters. Most junkies are rather artless these days..... interesting.....
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To Dex's lifestyle choices - I don't buy into the after life quarterbacking that suggests Dex, or any musician from his era, should have done it any differently than they did. The man's a legend who died at 67. Considering he lived as he chose I'd call that a very long life. Bill Evans died at 50, Parker at 34....the list of those who died much younger than Dex is pretty long.
We here on the West Coast, now living with Radiation Rain, are more concerned with the effects of radiation in the Pacific, than how a legend once lived, or how he died. Fact is, everyone has to go. Dex lived a good life, if u ask me! I 4 one, would trade places with him in a heart beat.
And yes, it is my opinion Dex has the most lyrical improvisations of almost any jazz instrumentalist. He wrote the book on how to weave a story. I don't care what your instrument is, Dex will put you on a serious path to enlightenment
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When I read the comments about his death, and the suggestions of living hard, one thing came to mind - many of my coworkers parents who are living into their 80s and 90s, and who have outlived their minds. It is just not at all a nice state of affairs and certainly not the way they would have liked to have gone out.
And you are right about questioning others second-guessing decisions in hindsight. That is oh too easy to do after the fact. For example, one could question my eating that fat-filled Jimmy Dean egg and sausage breakfast sandwich, should I have a heart attack.
I just caution everyone to consider their loved ones feelings in their decision-making, if they have anyone (especially kids). It is a kick in the gut to watch your loved ones beating themselves up. But there are those who feel it is a price worth paying for what they gain (Chicago Bear quarterback McMahon comes to mind). And to be honest, I am betting some of that hard-living is what helped fuel the great music they made.
I won't throw stones at Dex, especially after reading about all the adversity and injustices the early Jazzmen had to face.
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Not everyone wants to live into their 80's. Life is about quality time, not quantity time march-stepping. The history of human kind is filled of 80 and 90 something's whose names were NOT recorded.
FF, some MADD advocates feel the same as you towards anyone who consumes alcohol. Extremism of any kind itself is a vice.
Life, at best, is a temporary thing. Do yo' thang as you choose to do it...those days of youth are O'ver b4 you know it.
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