Dexter Gordon - Music around the World by Dexter Gordon (2023)

As one of the great tenors to emerge from Los Angeles' Central Avenue scene of the 1940s, Dexter Gordon led a colorful and eventful, sometimes tragic life that included three triumphant comebacks in a four-plus-decade career. Gordon was the top tenor saxophonist during the bop era and possessed his own distinctive sound, he created a large body of superior work and could successfully battle nearly anyone at a jam session. His years as a leader and co-leader at Dial, Savoy, and especially Blue Note as with 1961's Doin' Alright, 1962's Go!, and 1963's Our Man in Paris, were enough to make him a legend. Living in Europe for more than a dozen years, he recorded equally fine albums for Prestige, Steeplechase, and other labels, and his return to the U.S. resulted in several classic later-career releases, including 1977's Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard and 1979's Sophisticated Giant. As a beloved, influential member of the bebop generation, his story (and Bud Powell's) inspired French director Bertrand Tavernier to tell a portion of it in the 1986 drama Round Midnight in which Gordon played the lead role. Along with earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination, the film won him a Grammy for Best Improvised Solo for his companion album The Other Side of Round Midnight, which was also his final album, released five years before his 1990 passing.