Sophisticated Giant - The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon

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.

Info autore

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.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Maxine Gordon
• Con la collaborazione di: Farah Jasmine Griffin (Prefazione), Griffin Farah Jasmine (Prefazione), Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III (Postfazione)
• Editore: University Of California Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 30.11.2018
• EAN: 9780520280649
• ISBN: 978-0-520-28064-9
• Pagine: 284
• Dimensioni: 160 mm x 235 mm x 23 mm
• Categorie: Saggistica > Filosofia, religione > Biografie, autobiografie; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Musica > Monografie; Jazz, Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / General, MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Jazz, Biography: arts & entertainment, Popular Music, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Music, Musicians, singers, bands and groups, Composers and songwriters, Biography: arts and entertainment