walking upstream…
Dexter Gordon
photo: tom marcello · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon was a towering (literally: six-foot-six, hence 'Long Tall Dexter') American tenor saxophonist who, cutting his teeth as a teenager in Louis Armstrong's and Lionel Hampton's big bands, became one of the first musicians to translate bebop's vocabulary onto the tenor saxophone. His huge, spacious tone and behind-the-beat phrasing made him a defining voice of bebop in the 1940s and hard bop decades later, and his story came full circle in 1986 when he played a fictionalized version of himself in 'Round Midnight,' earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination — the first for a jazz musician.
the sound in question
1945
Long Tall DexterDexter Gordon
walk the tributaries ↓
Lester Young1930s–40s · Swing / Jazz
As a young player, Gordon was drawn to Lester Young's improvising specifically enough that it decided which instrument he'd play at all; writers describe him retaining 'the swing of Lester Young' as a core ingredient of his mature sound. That light, rotund tone and relaxed, unhurried swing feel is the base Gordon built his own bebop vocabulary on top of.
listen: upstream & heresource: uDiscover Music — Dexter Gordon ↗
1939
Lester Leaps InLester Young
1945
Long Tall DexterDexter Gordon
listen forPlay Lester Young's solo on 'Lester Leaps In' — airy tone, phrases that lean back off the beat — then Gordon's 'Long Tall Dexter.' Listen for the same loose-limbed swing underneath Gordon's denser, more bebop-inflected note choices.
Coleman Hawkins1930s · Swing / Jazz
Biographers credit Gordon with retaining 'the lushness of Coleman Hawkins' among the older tenor players he absorbed, and note he 'knew the Coleman Hawkins lexicon inside out.' That thick, full-bodied tone on ballads — Hawkins having effectively invented the tenor saxophone as a serious ballad instrument with his 1939 'Body and Soul' — carries directly into Gordon's own famously spacious ballad playing.
listen: upstream & heresource: uDiscover Music — Dexter Gordon ↗
1939
Body and SoulColeman Hawkins
Body and SoulDexter Gordon
listen forPlay Coleman Hawkins's 'Body and Soul' — the huge, breathy tone lingering over the changes — then Gordon's own recording of the same standard. Listen for the shared instinct: a big, unhurried tenor sound that treats a ballad as a place to stretch out rather than rush through.
Charlie Parker1940s · Bebop / Jazz
Gordon found his signature voice by combining 'Lester Young's rotund silky tone with the quicksilver melodic athleticism of Charlie Parker,' bringing Parker's new bebop harmonic vocabulary to the tenor saxophone at a time when the innovation was mostly happening on alto sax and trumpet. That fusion — Parker's harmonic daring played with a tenor's weight — is what made Gordon a bridge figure between swing and bebop.
listen: upstream & heresource: uDiscover Music — Dexter Gordon ↗
1941
Hootie BluesCharlie Parker
1945
Blow Mr. DexterDexter Gordon
listen forPlay 'Hootie Blues,' the 1941 Jay McShann recording that put a young Charlie Parker's alto on record for the first time, then Gordon's 'Blow Mr. Dexter.' Listen for the same quick, chromatic bebop lines, transposed from Parker's alto onto Gordon's broader tenor tone.