When Dexter Gordon moved to Europe alone in 1962, he hoped his then wife, Jodi, and his daughters would join him. But once there, he created a new life in Europe and the couple divorced mid-decade, writes Maxine Gordon, the tenor saxophonist's eventual road manager and wife, in her moving and smartly researched memoir, Sophisticated Giant. [Photo of Dexter Gordon above by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images]
Gordon had a lot to forget, but those hard memories had nothing to do with his family and everything to do with California. The state had hounded him for years on drug charges, imprisoning him on and off in the 1950s, all but pulling him off a fast-developing jazz scene and nearly destroying his career as a musician. It wasn't until the spring of 1961, after years of detention, that Gordon was finally permitted to travel outside of Los Angeles.
Atop Gordon's to-do list was leaving the U.S. as soon as possible, but first he had to earn savings to cover relocation expenses. He recorded a series of exceptional Blue Note recordings in New York from May 1961 to August 1962. In between that period, in February 1962, he satisfied the requirements of his California parole and probation, and he was free. At age 39, Gordon looked forward to putting his career back on track—abroad.
In September 1962, he left for Europe, and two months later he was recorded at the Metropole Jazz Centre in Oslo, Norway. In February 1963, he appeared in concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was recorded by Danish radio. These two dates were released earlier this year in April on Soul Sister by SteepleChase Records. In Oslo, Gordon was backed by Einar Iversen (p), Erik Amundsen (b) and Jon Christensen (d). In Copenhagen, he performed with Bent Axen (p), Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (b) and William Schioppfe (d).
Three songs were recorded in Oslo: Second Balcony Jump and Gordon's Ernie's Tune and Stanley the Steamer. In Copenhagen, another three were recorded: Three O'clock in the Morning, Gordon's Soul Sister and A Night in Tunisia.
As these recordings show, Gordon's creative mind and his playing were in peak form. Given the huge gaps in Gordon's 1950s discography, it's astonishing he emerged from the personal trauma of sustained addiction, arrests and incarceration with his creativity intact and playing ability razor sharp. Once abroad, Gordon was liberated to do as he pleased, go where he wished and play what he wanted, with attentive and adoring audiences. On the newly issued Soul Sister, Gordon is upbeat and his playing is fluid and rich in ideas. And on Night in Tunisia, he broke new ground for himself with a freer bop solo.
As for Gordon's then wife, Jodi, and his daughters, Robin and Deidre, they surely felt confused and abandoned by his departure. Sadly, great artists don't have a history of being emotionally neat or caring in the traditional family sense. And Gordon's years abroad were a jumble of relationships and children until 1974, when he married his second wife, Fenja, who organized his life.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Dexter Gordon's Soul Sister (SteepleChase) here.
JazzWax clip: Here's A Night in Tunisia...
