Tenor Saxophone | 1931-1993

Clifford Jordan grew up in Bronzeville on Chicago's south side, taught himself piano as a child, picked up tenor at thirteen, and attended Du Sable High School under music director Walter Dyett, in a cohort that also included John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Von Freeman and Gene Ammons. He moved to New York in 1957 and recorded "Blowing in from Chicago" (Blue Note) co-led with Gilmore, backed by Horace Silver, Curly Russell and Art Blakey, the same year. A run of Blue Note and Riverside albums established him as a hard bop tenor of the first rank, and sideman stints with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny Dorham and Max Roach broadened his reputation through the early 1960s. His inclusion in Charles Mingus's sextet for the 1964 European tour, alongside Eric Dolphy, was a significant marker of where he stood in that generation's hierarchy. After touring Africa with Randy Weston and a period in Europe, he returned to record "Glass Bead Games" (Strata-East, 1974), a double album with two alternating quartets anchored by himself and drummer Billy Higgins, with Cedar Walton, Stanley Cowell, Sam Jones and Bill Lee rotating through. The album, recorded at Minot Sound Studios in White Plains in October 1973, is now among the most sought-after Strata-East titles and one of the most admired jazz albums of the decade. Jordan continued recording prolifically through SteepleChase, Muse and Criss Cross until his death in New York on 27 March 1993, aged 61.