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… — 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… — 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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
A true leader doesn't lead to gain power. They lead to empower and give power away. — Jon Gordon Copy Share
We had Bob's [Gordon] records, and he's on Clifford Brown's first record as a leader. I believe it was Clifford Brown's first record as… — Jon Gordon Copy Share
Another classical music teacher from Performing Arts that I've stayed in contact with is Jonathan Strasser. — Jon Gordon Copy Share
![“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/i/b89/jon-gordon-1655_80s_by-the-latter-part-of-high-school-by-the_2544684.jpg)
![“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/i/3c7/jon-gordon-1655_art_i-was-finishing-up-at-high-school-of-per_2762115.png)