The Dexter Gordon Foundation proudly recognizes Dexter Gordon [1923-1990] as one of the pioneering musical icons of the twentieth century. Born in 1923, Gordon’s artistic journey spanned more than five decades, moving through several generations of the jazz tradition, from Swing to Bebop to Post-Bop and beyond.

Gordon’s influence in the world of music and on the saxophone is pervasive across every stylistic period of modern jazz following his historic emergence in the 1940s, and greatly impacted countless musicians who were inspired by him, including such giants as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and many others.

As such, The Foundation serves to educate the public about Dexter Gordon’s contribution to jazz and to American music, facilitating a means towards greater awareness, appreciation, participation, and support for the art form, and encouraging unity and solidarity throughout the international jazz community.

Gordon’s rich cultural and artistic legacy left the world with a vast wealth of documented resources from his personal and musical life, including an extensive discography of recordings, countless interviews, compositions, manuscripts, private papers, historical photographs, and many other forms of documentation. By sharing these resources with the public, the foundation serves to provide greater knowledge and understanding of Dexter Gordon’s unique life story through direct engagement with his musical legacy.

With the use of technology, and through research, oral and written history projects, archival work, publications, performances, educational programs, scholarships, public symposia, and community-oriented projects, The Foundation exists to further the artistic vision of Dexter Gordon, exposing the world to the beauty of his music and thus enriching the lives of the public through increased exposure to and involvement with this wonderful musical tradition known as jazz.

The Dexter Gordon Foundation is a fiscal sponsorship project under Fractured Atlas, an NY-based nonprofit arts management service organization. Contributions for the purposes of The Dexter Gordon Foundation must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

In 2012, the programs of The Dexter Gordon Foundation will be officially launched, and during that time the Foundation’s own federal tax-exempt status will be sought.

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