A01=Maxine Gordon
A19=Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III
A23=Farah Jasmine Griffin
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Author_Maxine Gordon
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Category1=Non-Fiction
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Category=AP
Category=AVGJ
Category=AVH
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Category=AVN
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Category=BGF
Category=DNBF
celebrated trumpet genius
colorful life
cool jazzman
COP=United States
copenhagen
creative outsider
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dexter gordon
dizzy gillespie
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father
humor and wisdom
husband
iconic
innovator of modern jazz
jazz composition
jazz lore
jazz music
Language_English
legacy
legendary times
multidimensional man
PA=Available
personal letters
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
research
softlaunch
son
tenor saxophone
world citizen
Product details
- ISBN 9780520350793
- Weight: 408g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Sep 2020
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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"An occasion to appreciate Dexter’s resounding musical genius as well as his wish for major social transformation.”—Angela Y. Davis, political activist, scholar, author, and speaker
Sophisticated Giant presents the life and legacy of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (1923–1990), one of the major innovators of modern jazz. In a context of biography, history, and memoir, Maxine Gordon has completed the book that her late husband began, weaving his “solo” turns with her voice and a chorus of voices from past and present. Reading like a jazz composition, the blend of research, anecdote, and a selection of Dexter’s personal letters reflects his colorful life and legendary times. It is clear why the celebrated trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie said to Dexter, “Man, you ought to leave your karma to science.”
Dexter Gordon the icon is the Dexter beloved and celebrated on albums, on film, and in jazz lore--even in a street named for him in Copenhagen. But this image of the cool jazzman fails to come to terms with the multidimensional man full of humor and wisdom, a figure who struggled to reconcile being both a creative outsider who broke the rules and a comforting insider who was a son, father, husband, and world citizen. This essential book is an attempt to fill in the gaps created by our misperceptions as well as the gaps left by Dexter himself.
Sophisticated Giant presents the life and legacy of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (1923–1990), one of the major innovators of modern jazz. In a context of biography, history, and memoir, Maxine Gordon has completed the book that her late husband began, weaving his “solo” turns with her voice and a chorus of voices from past and present. Reading like a jazz composition, the blend of research, anecdote, and a selection of Dexter’s personal letters reflects his colorful life and legendary times. It is clear why the celebrated trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie said to Dexter, “Man, you ought to leave your karma to science.”
Dexter Gordon the icon is the Dexter beloved and celebrated on albums, on film, and in jazz lore--even in a street named for him in Copenhagen. But this image of the cool jazzman fails to come to terms with the multidimensional man full of humor and wisdom, a figure who struggled to reconcile being both a creative outsider who broke the rules and a comforting insider who was a son, father, husband, and world citizen. This essential book is an attempt to fill in the gaps created by our misperceptions as well as the gaps left by Dexter himself.
Maxine Gordon is an independent scholar with a lifetime career working with jazz musicians. As an oral historian and archivist in the fields of jazz and African American cultural history, Sophisticated Giant fulfills the promise she made to her late husband, jazz saxophonist and Academy Award-nominated actor Dexter Gordon, to complete his biography.
