Curriculum Vitae
Maxine Gordon
CURRENT WORK
Under contract to Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past/Present/Future, Howard University Press and Columbia University Press for Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Radcliffe Fellow, (2022-2023), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Conducted research for forthcoming book: Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4KXOGYUV4
Dora Maar House Fellowship, Ménerbes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, April-June 2021. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=454468272484824
ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, Best Music Biography of the Year, 2019
Jazz Journalists Association, Best Jazz Book of the Year, 2019
Inaugural Research Fellow, The Erroll Garner/Martha Glaser Archive, University of Pittsburgh, 2017
Hogan Jazz Archive Fellowship, Tulane University, New Orleans, 2017
Harry Ransom Research Center Fellowship, University of Texas, 2014
MacCracken Fellowship, New York University, 1999-2006
Thomas E. Smith Graduate Fellowship Award, 2005
Smith Fellowship, City University of New York B.A. Program, 1994-1995
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Author, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, the biography of Dexter Gordon, University of California Press, November 2018. French, Italian, Spanish editions.
Senior Interviewer, Jazz Researcher, Bronx African American History Project, Fordham University, 2005-present
Project Director, Women Who Listen: An Oral History Project with Women Jazz Fans, 2005-present
Consultant: Bronx Music Heritage Center, Bronx, NY, Advisory Board; Historic Districts Council, Addisleigh Park Project; Weeksville Jazz Project, Brooklyn, NY; Jazz Consultant, Romare Bearden Foundation, 2010; Mary Lou Williams Foundation, Advisory Board, 2010-2015
Archivist: The Dexter Gordon Collections, Library of Congress; Howard “Stretch” Johnson Collection, Butler Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Columbia University, 2012
Published Work: A Trip Out of Time, At the Crossroads: The One Breath Rising Anthology of Poetry & Prose, 2022; Liner Notes, One for Me, Shirley Scott, Arc Records, 2020; Detroit, Yusef Lateef, Arc Records, 2023; Mischievous Lady: Dexter Gordon and Melba Liston, Journal of the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, 2014; Jazz Icons, DVD Concerts of Dexter Gordon; Columbia University Jazz Online, Bopland Revisited; Re-issue of Elks Hall Concert, Central Avenue, for Savoy Music; four jazz biographies for African American National Biography
President, The Dexter Gordon Society, a nonprofit organization that furthers the legacy and work of Dexter Gordon; Director, Dex Music, LLC, publisher of Dexter Gordon’s compositions and licensor of his name and likeness
Executive Producer, Louis Hayes, Serenade for Horace, Blue Note Records, 2017; Crisis, Savant Records, 2021; Exactly Right, Savant Records, 2023
PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCES
Beginning in November 2018, book talks, college lectures, film presentations on Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon in Austin, TX; New York City; Brooklyn, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Oakland, CA; Cleveland, OH; Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Copenhagen, Denmark; Amersfoort, Netherlands; Eastport, Maine; Graz, Austria; London, England; Washington, DC; New Orleans, LA; Pittsburgh, PA; Detroit, MI; Seattle, WA; Newport, RI; Cambridge, MA; Bates College and Bowdoin College, Maine; University of Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; University of Utah; Santa Fe, NM. 65,000 miles of travel.
Book talks for the Italian edition of Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, Bologna, Italy and Siena, Italy; 2022
SatchmoFest Symposium, New Orleans, August 2016; 2017; 2018; 2022; 2023
Reid Hall, Paris, France, Walking Jazz tour with Professor Robert O’Meally’s class, April 2023
Lecture, students from University of California, San Diego, Paris, France, July 2023
University of Pittsburgh, Jazz Symposium, 2016
University of Copenhagen, A Critique of the film Cool Cats, Dexter Gordon and Ben Webster, 2016
James Baldwin Conference, Paris, France, Discussion of 1970 Baldwin Documentary, 2016
Romare Bearden Exhibit and Jazz Concert, Istanbul, 2015; African Rhythms and Bebop, Jamaica Music Museum, Kingston, Jamaica, 2015
Writing Jazz Biography, University of Manchester, UK, 2014
Tribute to Dexter Gordon concert and film screening, Antananarivo, Madagascar, 2014
JazzAhead Conference, Screening and Discussion of the film Round Midnight, Bremen, Germany, 2014
Dexter Gordon: The European Years, Museum of Musical Instruments, Brussels, Belgium, 2014.
EDUCATION
New York University (NYU), 2001-2009
· Ph.D. Candidate, History (African Diaspora)
· Teaching Assistant: History of the Islamic Diaspora, African American Autobiography
Columbia University, 2004, Fellow, Summer Institute on Oral History—oral history, race, and ethnicity
New York University (NYU), 2001
· M.A., Africana Studies
City University of New York (CUNY)
· CUNY Baccalaureate Program
· B.A., Sociology, 1995
· Areas of Concentration: African American Studies, Puerto Rican Studies
· Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, 1994-1995
LANGUAGES
French: speak, read, and write with moderate competency.
Spanish: speak fluently (with local accent), read and write with high proficiency.
REFERENCES
Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University, fjg8@columbia.edu
Professor Robert G. O’Meally, Columbia University, rgo1@columbia.edu
Professor Fred Moten, New York University, frederick.moten@nyu.edu