There were a lot of great things you could go and hear for very little money at the time [ '80s]. Mike Stern is still playing at the 55 Bar on Mondays or Wednesdays. Jon Gordon More Quotes by Jon Gordon More Quotes From Jon Gordon I had pestered [Phil Wood] for a long time. He finally agreed to do it. And I was excited and nervous and he couldn't have been nicer or more supportive from the minute I got to his house. Jon Gordon supportive house long Phil [Wood] was known for having a little bit of a gruff manner, but he was all heart. Jon Gordon woods heart littles I was occasionally getting calls for some things. But I would say, 22 to 29 was a lot of scuffling. Hoping to get called for bad wedding gigs and I did do an off-Broadway show for about 15 months. Jon Gordon gigs broadway months All we can do is go about our work. But we can have a goal. We can have a dream. Jon Gordon goal dream can-do [Phil Wood] knew about wine. He knew about food. He knew about art. He knew about classical music. He was interested in things. Jon Gordon woods wine art One time, I think it was my third lesson third or fourth lesson. Kim Parker and he picked me up at the bus station. And she just said, "Phil [Wood] has been up all night. He's heartbroken. Bud Johnson died last night." And Bud Johnson, like Zoot [Sims] and Al [Cohn] had been mentors to him. Jon Gordon heartbroken night thinking I think [Phil Wood] didn't suffer fools gladly, but he loved supporting young people that loved the music. Jon Gordon suffering people thinking I didn't have time to deal with practicing in a way that I would have liked to. I wish I could have just said, "I've got four to five hours every day that I'm going to go deal with music." I just didn't' have that. I missed a lot of lessons, but I think that maybe was frustrating to me in a big picture sense of, I need the time and energy to put into my instrument. Jon Gordon energy wish thinking I was really falling in love with jazz and dedicating myself in that direction. Jon Gordon jazz falling-in-love fall I wasn't expecting [the Monk competition] would necessarily do that. So I just did what I did and some good things continued to happen and some doors continued to open and that kind of led me into the different associations that I developed in my 30s and some records that I've made on ArtistShare over the last 10 years or so. Jon Gordon competition doors years I'm reaching a certain level [at school] that I had been aspiring to with all these incredibly advanced classical peers around me that I had been trying to be able to hang with them a little bit. Jon Gordon peers trying school I was finishing up at High School of Performing Arts and finally, by the end of junior year and start of senior year, made some progress as a 16 year-old classical saxophone player. But not really... not like how the legit cats do. But I love the [Jacques] Ibert, love [Alexander] Glazunov, love the [Paul] Creston. Jon Gordon senior art school The light went on when I heard Phil [woods] play, and I went like, "That is why I'm playing the instrument." So I got very inspired, I started going to clubs through a friend's mom in the city, again, another person who just completely opened all these doors for me and it was amazing how kind she was. Jon Gordon mom light doors When I was 13, 14, 15, I had played in a couple of jazz ensembles. I didn't know anything about harmony, about II-V-I, though I had learned my scales with Caesar [DiMauro]. Jon Gordon ensemble jazz couple When I heard Charlie Parker the first time on a record, it had seemed like an old, scratchy kind of record and I didn't get it. Jon Gordon records kind firsts Joe Henderson with Ron Carter and Al Foster at the Vanguard was just wow. And the energy of the three of them. Jon Gordon wow three energy We had been thrown out of a couple of places that we had lived in when I was a kid and all the family photos and records and toys were long since gone. But I think somebody had given us a couple of records. Jon Gordon couple kids thinking I think we had a Ben Webster/Gerry Mulligan record... that might have been it. We only had a few records in the house. Jon Gordon records house thinking I also met Charles McPherson around that time, end of high school. I was 17 and I had followed Phil around for a year and pestered him enough to finally give me saxophone lessons. So all of a sudden I've got Phil Woods and Charles McPherson around me. Jon Gordon giving years school I never got discouraged for long, but we all got our butts kicked musically. Jon Gordon discouraged long
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