"Sax" Gordon Beadle was born in Detroit in 1965. He gained his first musical experiences in Northern California with combos and big bands in the Sacramento area, eventually performing and recording with Bay Area Blues giant Johnny Heartsman before leaving for the east coast. Early on Gordon established a reputation for his hard-blowing, gutsy sax style and his ability to excite an audience.
Since coming to Boston, Gordon has become one of the most sought-after saxophonists in his field, both in recording studios and in clubs and concert halls worldwide. He's been featured as a soloist on both the tours and recordings of such highly-respected artists as Duke Robillard, Jay McShann, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Jimmy Witherspoon, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, and Roomful of Blues. His flamboyant solos have appeared on award-winning recordings by such legendary R&B pioneers as Jimmy McGriff, Champion Jack Dupree, Rosco Gordon, Pinetop Perkins, Jimmy "T99" Nelson, Billy Boy Arnold and Charles Brown, and Gordon has been called upon to play live with many of the great artists of Blues, Jazz, and Soul, including Solomon Burke, Little Milton, Johnny Copeland, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Herb Ellis, Ben E. King, Keely Smith, Howard Tate, Martha Reeves, Junior Wells, Mighty Sam McClain, Charlie Musselwhite, Reuben Wilson & the Masters of Groove (featuring Grant Green Jr. & Bernard Purdie), Johnny Johnson, James Cotton, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), Hubert Sumlin, Big Jay McNeely, Sherman Robertson, Junior Watson, and John Hammond.
Gordon has performed in Europe, Australia, South America, Africa, Central America, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, all over North America, and toured in opening bands for such notable acts as the Rolling Stones, BB King and the Neville Brothers. With his own groups or as a sideman Gordon has appeared at world-renowned festivals including the Monterey Jazz festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Holland), Luxembourg Blues and Jazz Rallye, San Francisco Blues Festival, Newport Rhythm & Blues Festival, King Biscuit Festival (Helena, AR), Istambul Blues Festival, Boston Blues Festival, the Handy Awards, Memphis in May, Imatra Big Band Festival (Finland), Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Nescafe Blues Festival (Brazil), Blues Estafette (Netherlands), Kabila Blues (Morrocco)...
In 1998 Gordon began recording for Rounder's Bullseye Blues & Jazz label. On his first CD, Have Horn Will Travel, Gordon caught the attention of noted critics Chris Morris of Billboard, and Bill Milkowski of Jazz Times with his rocking original tunes, huge sound, and his ability to build upon the styles of influences like Sil Austin, Freddie Mitchell, King Curtis, Gene Ammons, Ike Quebec, and Clifford Scott. He received the French Euroblues Agency's "Trophees France Blues - International Musician (Divers)" in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and performed with his own groups in the USA, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy. His second CD, You Knock Me Out, was released in 2000 with Gordon showing an even wider range of traditional R&B sax influences like J.T. Brown, Eddie Shaw, Maxwell Davis, Lee Allen, Hank Crawford, Joe Houston, Earl Bostic, and Arnett Cobb, while managing to retain a sound and feel all his own. Living Blues magazine said "Sax Gordon performs with a skill and taste, frequently careening to the edge of glorious chaos".
Since then Gordon has continued working in the USA and overseas with his own groups as well as with other artists, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award in the "Instrumentalist - Horns" category in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. |
