Jazz Reviews : A Spirited Memorial to Dexter Gordon

A brace of musical performances and a few remembrances and tributes made up the brief, spirited memorial held for the late Dexter Gordon on Sunday at the Musicians’ Union auditorium in Hollywood.

About 250 friends and fans gathered to pay tribute to the great saxophonist, who died April 25 at the age of 67. Memorial organizer Clint Rosemond remembered seeing Gordon’s name on a marquee when he was a youth riding a “J” streetcar on Jefferson Boulevard; trumpeter Clora Bryant read her lengthy bio-poem that documented many of Gordon’s career highlights, and pianist Herbie Hancock noted that jazz musicians everywhere should give thanks for the music the hornman made, as they all had learned so much from him.

The pianist provided the afternoon’s musical peak with “Chan’s Song,” written for, and originally performed in, “ ‘Round Midnight,” the 1985 Bernard Tavernier film in which the saxophonist starred. Playing unaccompanied, Hancock continually re-worked the tune’s lyrical theme, offering denser and denser statements that still retained trace’s of the warm melody.

Saxophonist Harold Land’s quintet began the memorial with a brisk “Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” where Oscar Brashear’s trumpet crackled and sang over a can’t-help-but-swing pulse delivered by bassist Henry Franklin and drummer Billy Higgins. Later, Cynthia Utterbach, backed by pianist Michael Cain, sang the 1940 Duke Ellington-Carl Sigman opus, “All Too Soon,” which was Gordon’s favorite set of lyrics.

The event closed with two blues treatments, one by tenormen Buddy Collette and Teddy Edwards, another by saxman Bobby King, both backed by Cain and ace drummer and former Gordon bandstandmate Larance Marable.