This week I’ll be linking to a series of interviews from the Canadian Jazz Archive Online, a project of JAZZ FM.91, Canada’s premier jazz radio station.
Here are two 1970s talks with tenor great Dexter Gordon. In the first Gordon discusses playing with Fletcher Henderson, Los Angeles, and his history with addiction; in the second he covers his strength as a player, his fame in Japan, and musical integrity versus commercial success. From the first interview:
“I come from the Los Angeles, which is not too far from Texas, and so many of the Texas tenor players were my inspirations. And they traditionally have big, strong sounds … And I mean, for me, really if a tenor player doesn’t have a big sound, he’s lacking a little something. Of course, everybody can’t be Gene Ammons or somebody, you know, but still it should be of, you know, full tenor sound.”
Click here to listen to Dexter Gordon: 1976
Click here to listen to Dexter Gordon: 1979
— Peter Blasevick
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