Hap-Be-Lated Birthday, Dexter Gordon ..........(From Chopin to Coltrane)..........

That is not a photograph of Dexter Gordon. It is a 2nd generation photograph of Samuel Rodney Browne. That is, I took a picture of a photograph that originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times. The PIN in the background was cropped from CHOPIN. Reliable sources have told me that Dr. Browne insisted on impregnating Jefferson High jazz students with an appreciation of classical music.

The orange thing below Dr. Browne is a copy of my payment from Dexter Gordon's widow for unearthing her husband's report cards from his student days in Los Angeles.
After graduating from McKinley Junior High, Dexter attended Jefferson High School.
(McKinley changed its name to Carver Middle School.)

Dexter worshipped Dr. Browne. Going so far as to spend Saturday mornings mowing the lawn of his music teacher in exchange for private lessons. If you are unfamiliar with the music of Dexter Gordon, please link here. The most famous photograph of Dexter Gordon appears below. It was taken by Herman Leonard and I have the image on a t-shirt.

At the end of the performance videos, when Dexter bows to the audience, you will notice that he is holding his saxophone parallel to the floor. This is an ultra-polite expression of gratitude that Dexter learned from Dr. Browne.

John Coltrane has been quoted as saying that the primary influence on his musical genius was Dexter Gordon. Therefore, Coltrane was a 2nd generation student of Samuel Rodney Browne, who had posters of Frederic Chopin's music in his classroom.

Unfortunately, I am not old enough to have been a teaching colleague of Dr. Browne but throughout my career at Jefferson, the walls of my classroom were graced by a high-quality 20" by 33" poster enlarged from the LA Times photograph of the immortal Samuel Rodney Browne.

On my best days as a math teacher, I was good enough to mow Dr. Browne's lawn but the most distinguished person to cut Dr. Browne's lawn is seen below with something other than a lawnmower.