Sophisticated Giant
The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon
by Maxine Gordon
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Pub Date Nov 02 2018 | Archive Date Jul 30 2019
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Description
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.
Advance Praise
“Who is Dexter Gordon? 1) A great musician of the highest level. 2) A great human being of the highest level.”—Sonny Rollins, saxophonist
“An extraordinary gift… Maxine Gordon’s rigorously researched, jazz-inflected, genre-bending account of the many dimensions of this prodigious life is an occasion to appreciate Dexter’s resounding musical genius as well as his wish for major social transformation.”—Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
"Sophisticated Giant tells a story from Buffalo Soldier to bebop from Madagascar to Cuba! Maxine Gordon sheds light on the remarkable career and family history of Dexter Gordon, one of America's most unique and misunderstood talents. When you talk about ‘cool,’ Dex lived it!!!”—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, author and legendary athlete
“At long last, the definitive biography of Dexter Gordon has arrived. Maxine Gordon’s thoroughly researched and engaging biography uses Dexter’s own voice as well as a chorus of jazz legends who riff on the musical changes in Gordon’s extraordinary life. It’s all here, leaving no doubt about the truth of Dexter Gordon’s description of himself: ‘I’m not just your ordinary B-flat.’”—Wesley Brown, author of Darktown Strutters and Dance of the Infidels
"“Long tall Dexter was the tenor man Coltrane and I admired and wanted to be like when we changed from alto to tenor. We listened to everything he recorded. He and Sonny Stitt set the pace for the bebop tenor players.”—Jimmy Heath, saxophonist
“This biography tells the story of a man who was not only a tremendous musician, with a unique sound, the link between Hawkins and Coltrane, but was one of the sharpest, funniest human beings I have ever met; very educated AND very hip. Working with him was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”—Bertrand Tavernier, director, Round Midnight
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780520280649 |
| PRICE | $29.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 284 |
