Tenor saxophone

Dexter Gordon

How can we distance ourselves from convenient situations to allow ourselves to see fresh perspectives?

In this installment of Liner Notes with Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, we learn about jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon, one of the originators of the bebop sound. For much of his career, Gordon played in Europe and merged his sound with the nascent European jazz movement.

 

 

Gene Ammons

Eugene “Jug” Ammons AKA “The Boss” was a tenor saxophonist known for his bold, R&B-soul sound. His vast discography as a bandleader and occasional sideman stretch from the 1950s to the 1970s. In this episode of Liner Notes, Rabbi Neil Blumofe discusses the legacy of Gene Ammons.

Yusef Lateef (6.8.14)

Yusef Lateef was an American jazz mufti-instrumentalist, composer and educator who extended the possibilities of what it meant to understand and expand in the jazz genera with a universal sensibility. In this edition of Liner Notes Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe illustrates what the music and legacy of Lateef and his music can teach us about moving past our own ideas of fulfillment, beyond any limitations, to understand the possibilities and richness in the present moment.

Archie Shepp (5.18.14)

Archie Shepp is a  jazz saxophonist whose compositions and rhythms added a political and powerful voice to conversations about race, inequality, power and justice in America, especially in the 1970s. In this edition of Liner Notes Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about the what it means to be a unique voice in a dialogue of timelessness–rooted in tradition and continuing to unfold.