" data-original-title="" title="">Dexter Gordon left us almost three decades ago, but his presence in 2018 has virtually brought him back to center stage. The release of his biography Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon (University of California Press) by his wife Maxine Gordon, and the previously unreleased Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 (Elemental Music) have revitalized interest in one of the most influential early leaders of the bebop movement. Elemental follows up the Tokyo concert release with Espace Cardin 1977, recorded live in Paris and, like the Tokyo concert, unreleased prior to this pressing.

To say that Gordon was highly—and broadly—accomplished is an understatement. He was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award in 1986 for his part in 'Round Midnight; he appeared in the movie Awakenings (1990) and in an acting role on a television series. Gordon won a Grammy for The Other Side of 'Round Midnight (Blue Note Records, 1986) and the National Endowment for the Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. He recorded more than seventy-five albums as a leader/co-leader and appeared as a sideman with