LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Dexter Gordon: Lionel Hampton
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Gordon first turned professional in December of 1940, when he was offered a job with Lionel Hampton’s band. He left Hampton in 1943 and spent six months in 1944 touring with Louis Armstrong. He then was a member of Billy Eckstine’s band until 1945, when he began to establish himself in New York as a regular on 52nd Street. There he played in a group with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Curly Russell, and Max Roach. Gordon had a reputation for being smooth, even-tempered, and unflappable, as illustrated by the following story, recounted in Ira Gitler’s Masters of Bebop:
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In 1962 Gordon traveled to London and stayed in Europe for 15 years, living in Copenhagen. In 1976, Gordon enjoyed a hero's welcome in the U.S. when he played the Village Vanguard, and joined Columbia Records, which featured him with Slide Hampton and Woody Shaw. Now back in the United States for good, Gordon's career was rejuvenated. In 1986, it culminated with his brilliant and poignant portrayal of Dale Turner for the motion picture Round Midnight -- a character based on Bud Powell and Lester Young, based in Paris. The portrayal landed him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. His last major concert was a trio/orchestral date with the New York Philharmonic.
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Between 1940 and 1943, Gordon was a member of Lionel Hampton's band, playing in a saxophone section alongside Illinois Jacquet and Marshall Royal. In 1943 he made his first recordings under his own name, alongside Nat Cole and Harry Edison. During 1943-44 he featured in the Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson bands, before joining Billy Eckstine.
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The 1973 Montreux material is much the same as the 1972 studio dates: Gordon seems a bit tired, wasted, suffering from a case of the "whatevers". He plays well enough, but is not up to his own highest standards. Hampton Hawes is similarly in good, if not great, form. The most interesting aspect of his performance here is that Hawes plays exclusively on electric piano, an instrument that he was more than dabbling with during this time. The rhythm section is rounded out by Bob Cranshaw and the great Kenny Clarke, who turns in a typically rousing performance throughout, and is, on this occasion, the player most worth listening closely to. For one tune, this group is joined by Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Kenneth Nash, and Gene Ammons.
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Gordon was born and grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a doctor who counted Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton among his patients. He played clarinet from the age of 13, before switching to saxophone (initially alto, then tenor) at 15. While still at school, he was playing in bands with such contemporaries as Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette.[1]
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It was in 1943, while in New York City with the Hampton band, that Dexter sat in at Minton’s Playhouse with Ben Webster and Lester Young. This was to be one of the most important moments in his long musical career as, as he put it, “people started to take notice.”
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