|
1923
Born in Los Angeles
in a middle-class family (his father was once doctor to Duke
Ellington), Dexter Gordon starts to play the clarinet aged seven
and transfers to the saxophone eight years later. Like Charles
Mingus, he studies music with Lloyd Reese, and plays with Reese's
rehearsal band.
1950s
With
the jazz world at his feet, Dexter Gordon's career in this decade
is massacred by drugs and related custodial sentences.
He is imprisoned 1952-54 and 1956-60.
1962-90
Gordon lives
in Europe, based in Copenhagen, until 1977. He eventually returns
to the United States to some acclaim. He is the Oscar-nominated
star of the film Round Midnight, a film based loosely on
the life story of Bud Powell.
|
|
1940-43
Between 1940
and 1943 Gordon plays with the Lionel Hampton band. In 1943 he leads
a quintet and sextet based in Los Angeles which includes Nat
King Cole.
1945-52
In December 1944
Gordon moves to New York where he joins the Billy Eckstine Orchestra,
playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie
and Fats Navarro; Gordon has himself
become one of the leading bop figures. From 1947 to 1952 he forms
an occasional association with Wardell Gray, and their duets are musical
highlights in the Los Angeles musical scene of the time. |