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Artist
Dexter Gordon Quartet
12+ albums
jazzinstrumentalsaxophonecool jazzNeed to Rate
about
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. 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
