Maxine Gordon

Maxine Gordon is an independent scholar who has worked with jazz musicians all her life. As an oral historian and archivist in the fields of jazz and African American cultural history, her book, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, she is fulfilling a promise to her late husband, jazz saxophonist and Oscar-nominated actor Dexter Gordon, to complete his biography. She is currently working on the book Quartet, which tells the story of four African-American jazz musicians – Velma Middleton, Maxine Sullivan, Shirley Scott and Melba Liston.