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Irv Gordon

Originally from Philadelphia, Gordon's career spans back to the bebop era, having come up alongside other jazz greats like the Heath brothers, Stan Getz, and John Coltrane, to name a few.

Gordon began performing at the age of 16. At 18, he played the same chair as Lester Young behind Billie Holiday for the first interracial jazz concert in Philadelphia in the summer of 1952

Credits include performances with Philly Joe Jones, Sarah Vaughn, The Four Freshman, Vido Musso, Frances Fayes, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Abby Lincoln, Tommy Vig, Steve & Edie, Ike & Tina Turner, Elvis, Johnny Mathis, and several others.

In the '60s Irv Gordon wrote and conducted Minsky's Burlesque at the old Thunderbird Hotel, isomg severa; up can coming musicians at the time like trumpeters Chuck Findlay and Bobby Shew, and bassist Bob Magnusson, who were barely in their '20s at the time..

Gordon later wrote arrangments for several celebrities, including the very first show for infamous illusionists Siegfried & Roy.

As a tenor saxophonist, Gordon's sound and approach represented a strong influence from the Lester Young school of playing, placing him in the same arena as other great tenor players like Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, and Al Cohn as a lyrical improvisationalist.

Following retirement from playing production shows up until the early '90S, Gordon performed in small group jazz settings only with other jazz notables like trombonist Carl Fontana, saxophonist Bill Trujillo, and drummer Irv Kluger.

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