I didn't always have time to practice as much as I wanted to do, that was a real problem for me in… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I was also sitting in from the middle of senior year of high school at Sweet Basil, it was a great club… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
There are great jazz educators that I meet all the time. I met a guy named Paul Luchessi who has a high… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Families that I lived with a little bit in junior high and quite a bit in high school and college. Just to… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I finally got to junior high and I got to start saxophone. There were a few of us that were in the… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I was finishing up at High School of Performing Arts and finally, by the end of junior year and start of senior… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I think what frustrated me more than anything else in my formative years was that I just had to work. I had… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I had a lot of bad habits in how I was playing the horn. And I slowly, in high school and college,… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I also met Charles McPherson around that time, end of high school. I was 17 and I had followed Phil around for… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
[Larry Laurenzano] gave me a junior high school saxophone to take to high school, because I was always taking one of our… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
By the latter part of high school, by the middle of junior year in high school, Jay Rodriguez played me some Irakere… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Justin [Di Cioccio] was [at Laguardia School of Arts]. He later took over at Manhattan. But I knew Justin through the McDonald's… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Joe Henderson, who I maybe, to me, if I had to pick one improviser in my life that I saw live that blew my… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Benny Carter came up to me and said to me, "You know, in the whole history of the alto, I think Phil is the… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
“know that I’m not a human being having a spiritual experience. I’m a spiritual being having a human experience.” — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
It's very unlikely you're a genius, but, if you're ready to work at it hard and you want to listen to music all the… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
The first jazz cruise that I was on was '91. I played with Maria Schneider and John Fedchock's band. Got to meet some amazing… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I just lucked into a lot of good people man. In my life and through friends, and in the music, that really embraced me… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Every morning you have a choice. Are you going to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Positive thinking will energize you. — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
I was occasionally getting calls for some things. But I would say, 22 to 29 was a lot of scuffling. Hoping to get called… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
There are a lot of people that impacted me. I remember hearing Oscar Peterson live at the Blue Note, which was very expensive, but...… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
There's a lot of good people out here that want to help you grow and to help the music to continue to grow and… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
Ernie Hayes, Jimmy Lewis, and either Belton Evans or Khalil Mahdi on drums [were in Sweet Basil]. All those guys really took care of… — Jon Gordon Copy Share Image
![“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…” quote by Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3c7/jon-gordon-1655_art_i-was-finishing-up-at-high-school-of-per_2762115.jpg)
![“[Larry Laurenzano] gave me a junior high school saxophone to take to high school, because I was always taking one of our school horns home to practice and I couldn't afford to buy one. He gave my friend, Tyrone, a tuba and he gave me a junior high saxophone for each of us to use at Performing Arts…” quote by Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/217/jon-gordon-1655_art_larry-laurenzano-gave-me-a-junior-high-s_1950287.jpg)
![“By the latter part of high school, by the middle of junior year in high school, Jay Rodriguez played me some Irakere records that that Paquito [D'Rivera] was on. And he also played me and our friend, Curtis Haywood, some Phil Woods records. And when I heard Phil, I just about lost my mind. I was…” quote by Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b89/jon-gordon-1655_80s_by-the-latter-part-of-high-school-by-the_2544684.jpg)
![“Justin [Di Cioccio] was [at Laguardia School of Arts]. He later took over at Manhattan. But I knew Justin through the McDonald's band, which at the time I was finishing high school and starting college, I got involved with. I was not that heavily involved with the school at MSM my first year…” quote by Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/275/jon-gordon-1655_art_justin-di-cioccio-was-at-laguardia-schoo_2555432.jpg)
![“Ernie Hayes, Jimmy Lewis, and either Belton Evans or Khalil Mahdi on drums [were in Sweet Basil]. All those guys really took care of me.” quote by Jon Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/400/jon-gordon-1655_basil_ernie-hayes-jimmy-lewis-and-either-belto_200776.jpg)