Alex Henderson

On the Cover
Dexter Gordon: The Tenor of Power 

By Alex Henderson

Dexter Gordon went down in jazz history as one of its most influential tenor saxophonists. Some giants came before him but most tenor saxophonists who emerged after the mid '40s were influenced by him in some way, from Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane to Jimmy Heath, Gene Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin. Although 26 years have passed since Gordon's death at 67 on Apr. 25th, 1990, his influence hasn't waned: one hears echoes in everyone from Joe Lovano to Eric Alexander to Joshua Redman. And in 2016, Gordon's contributions are being remembered with a variety of activities from the Dexter Gordon Society (DGS) and New York City-based Dexter Gordon Legacy Ensemble (DGLE).

Born in Los Angeles on Feb. 27th, 1923, Gordon would have turned 90 in 2013. That year, Woody Shaw III (stepson of Gordon's widow, jazz scholar and DGS president/co-founder Maxine Gordon) came up wit the idea for the DGS (for which Shaw serves as director). The DGLE's first tribute event came in 2013 at Dizzy's Club, followed by birthday tributes at that same venue in 2014, 2015 and continuing this year. "The Dexter Gordon Legacy Ensemble started at the same time that we launched the nonprofit, the Dexter Gordon Society, to preserve his legacy and to further his name and his music," Maxine Gordon explains. "Part of that was putting together a group that would play his music. So the natural person to be
the musical director, of course, was [pianist] George Cables, who recorded with Dexter. We talked to George about putting together a group and we had to have
two tenor players so they could play 'The Chase'."

The DGLE has had different lineups along the way. The incarnation appearing at Dizzy's this month is a
sextet consisting of two Gordon alumni (Cables and drummer Victor Lewis) as well as vibraphonist Joe
Locke, bassist Dezron Douglas and saxophonists Craig Handy and Abraham Burton. And the DGLE's activities certainly aren't limited to NYC: during its four-year
history, the group has performed in places ranging from Cleveland to Denmark.

Locke occupies what Maxine Gordon describes as the DGLE's "Bobby Hutcherson Chair". Hutcherson played with Gordon in the '60s-70s and, in 1986,
appeared in Bertrand Tavernier's film 'Round Midnight (starring Gordon as the fictional Dale Turner, an American expatriate saxophonist living in Paris in the '50s, a role for which he received an Oscar nomination).

The DGS will celebrate the film's 30th anniversary this year with a free screening at Jazz at Lincoln Center. And Gordon's legacy will also be remembered with
Dexter Calling, a biography that Maxine Gordon has
been working on for University of California Press.

Gordon is not only remembered for his playing, but also, for his composing. "We're always adding things to the repertoire," the 71-year-old Cables notes. "You can
usually count on hearing us play 'Cheesecake' or 'Fried
Bananas', but we do want to keep expanding the repertoire. We're doing things that people are familiar
with as well as things that might be a little more obscure. The concept is to keep the memory and the
legacy of Dexter Gordon alive. It's a very important legacy."

Gordon began making a name for himself in the jazz world in the early '40s, when he played swing in
Lionel Hampton's big band. But soon Gordon was a champion of bebop and applied the innovations of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie to the tenor. Because of his drug problems and time served in prison, Gordon was out of circulation for much of the '50s but made a triumphant comeback in the early '60s, recording a series of classic albums for Blue Note and other labels. When he was living in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1962-76, Gordon
was prolific both on stage and in the studio.

"Moving to Denmark was really good for Dexter," recalls Danish producer Nils Winther, who recorded Gordon extensively for his label SteepleChase Records
during the '70s. "He found a club in Copenhagen thatloved him, the Jazzhus Montmartre. Dexter was a
fixture in the club and had several great rhythm sections there. Dexter used to play three months during
the summer at the Montmartre Club-every night except Monday night. Dexter had the summer gig. Where in America would Dexter have had a threemonth gig in a club playing every night except Monday
night? Nowhere."

Danish drummer Alex Riel has fond memories of playing with Gordon extensively at Jazzhus Montmartre and other Scandinavian venues. "I'm glad he chose to stay in Denmark because he meant a lot to me personally, but also because he had a great impact on the Danish jazz scene," Riel explains. "I mean, can you think of a greater inspiration if you are a young jazz cat? Dexter would sometimes be playing at Jazzhus Montmartre several weeks in a row and the place would be packed every single night. People came back to hear him. It was usually me or Makaya Ntshoko on drums, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and either Tete Montoliu or Kenny Drew on piano."

Gordon experienced three major comebacks during his lifetime: the aforementioned return to
recording in the early '60s; his decision to move back to
New York in 1976; and the 'Round Midnight film in 1986. Winther remembers that when Gordon moved back to the U.S. after 14 years in Europe, signed with
Columbia/CBS Records and headlined the Village Vanguard, it was an historic series of events for jazz.

"Dexter was comfortable here in Denmark but, of course, he also liked to be recognized in America,"
Winther observes. "And Dexter was really big when he came back to New York. He was on top of his game at the Vanguard and everybody in New York was there.
Pharoah Sanders was there. I remember walking around the Village and people on the street were talking about Dexter."

Cables, Lewis, Hutcherson, trombonist Slide Hampton and trumpeter Woody Shaw were among the improvisers who joined Gordon on 1977's Sophisticated
Giant, the saxophonist's first album for Columbia; 39 years later, Lewis still appreciates Gordon's insistence
that he be part of the project.

"Sophisticated Giant is a
record I'm very proud of, but I almost didn't get on the
record," Lewis remembers. "I was 27 and I was new on the scene. The powers that be at CBS didn't really
know me and since it was a larger ensemble as opposed to a quartet or quintet, CBS didn't know if I could
handle the job. So Woody and Dexter convinced CBS to use me. They really wanted me on that record and it gave me goosebumps to have them go to bat for me."

Although Gordon favored a big tone and swung hard, he also had a reputation for being highly melodic.
According to bassist Buster Williams (who appeared on some of his Prestige recordings of the '60s-70s) that love of melody was a key element of his greatness.

"Dexter sounded great in the '40s and '50s and in the '60s, he just got better and better, as far as I'm concerned," Williams stresses. "Dexter developed a distinctive sound early on and he never lost it. Dexter never cluttered things up when he improvised. Dexter
respected melody and when he played a melody, you could hear that he knew the lyric."

Like his idol Lester Young, Gordon firmly believed that instrumentalists should be familiar with the lyrics
of standards they were embracing. Norwegian vocalist Karin Krog, who performed with Gordon when he was living in Europe, recalls, "Working with Dexter as a
singer was fun because he knew a lot of lyrics and I would say he took up the heritage after Lester Young
wonderfully. You can sometimes hear Dexter is playing the words more than the melody. Don't forget: he had done a bit of acting and he brought that into his performances, which enriched them and got him in contact with his public."

Cables recalls that when Gordon employed him in the late '70s, he was struck by the fact that a lot of
younger listeners were showing up at Gordon's gigs and, in 2016, the fact that jazz musicians continue to be affected by his work illustrates his timelessness. "One thing I noticed when I played with Dexter in the '70s was that two-thirds of the audience was under 30," Cables explains. "That would always startle me. People who were under 30 at the time could relate to Dexter and they were emotionally and spiritually invested in the music when they were in the audience. Dexter's
music is not superficial; it has strength and depth. Dexter Gordon is the spirit of jazz."

Recommended Listening:

• Dexter Gordon—BOPland: The Legendary Elks Club
Concert L.A. (Savoy Jazz, 1947)
• Dexter Gordon—Daddy Plays The Horn (Bethlehem-Verse, 1955)
• Dexter Gordon—Go (Blue Note, 1962)
• Dexter Gordon—The Tower of Power! (Prestige, 1969)
• Dexter Gordon—The Complete Trio & Quartet Studio Recordings (SteepleChase, 1974-76)
• Dexter Gordon—Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard (Columbia, 1976)