Dexter Gordon
Tenor Sax Solo on
Misty

About

Dexter Gordon's tenor saxophone solo is the first of two improvisations on this interpretation of Erroll Garner's enduring standard. Taking one chorus of the 32-bar AABA form in A-flat at a slow 53 BPM, Gordon delivers a gorgeous ballad statement characterized by his distinctive behind-the-beat phrasing and warm, expansive vibrato. His approach to the well-known melody is at once reverential and deeply personal, each phrase shaped with the patience and emotional depth that made his ballad playing among the most moving in all of jazz.

Dexter Gordon was 43 to 44 years old at the time.