Home / Quotes / Quote by Jon Gordon

Quote by Jon Gordon

“Larry [ Laurenzano] said to me one day near the end of junior high, "Jon, are you Jewish?" I said, "No." And he said, "Well neither am I. I'm not sure of Caesar DiMauro, but he teaches at the JCC and I got you a scholarship there."”

Quote by Jon Gordon

Author

Jon Gordon is a renowned consultant specializing in leadership and team building. His work spans across various industries, helping organizations and individuals enhance performance and well-being. more

You May Also Like

“A lot of musicians have said things to me like, "Music saved my life". And "I'm standing on the shoulders of dozens of people that you've never heard of that were like angels for me that came out of the woodwork." And that's really the case for me. I had so many people that did those kinds of things for me.”

People Kind Said Cases Heard Musician Angel Standing Saved Shoulders Dozen

Author:Jon Gordon

“Families that I lived with a little bit in junior high and quite a bit in high school and college. Just to have a safe, sane space with food and things like that. That's what I needed. And people were really kind and really generous. So I think the world kind of opened up my first years of performing arts, studying classical saxophone with Caesar DiMauro.”

People Thinking World Years Firsts Kind Littles Art School Bits Space Study College Needed Safe Little Bit High School Performing Generous Sane Juniors Saxophone Junior High Performing Arts

Author:Jon Gordon

“I never really had a classical saxophone set-up. I just had a middle of the road set up.”

Middle Saxophone Middle Of The Road

Author:Jon Gordon

“I had a lot of bad habits in how I was playing the horn. And I slowly, in high school and college, started to recognize them and get them a little better. But it was not an overnight process, I'll say that.”

Littles School Process College Habit High School Horns Bad Habits

Author:Jon Gordon

“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 playing the Charlie Parker Omnibook as part of my lessons. This was the '80s. There was no YouTube and all that. And we had three or four jazz records at that point.”

Years Mind School Three Lost Records Four Heard Middle Lessons High School Jazz Woods Latter 80s Juniors Youtube Charlie Junior Year Lost My Mind Jazz Records

Author:Jon Gordon

“I think we had a Ben Webster/Gerry Mulligan record... that might have been it. We only had a few records in the house.”

Thinking Has Beens Might House Records Might Have Been Mulligans

Author:Jon Gordon

“We had been thrown out of a couple of places that we had lived in when I was a kid and all the family photos and records and toys were long since gone. But I think somebody had given us a couple of records.”

Thinking Long Kids Given Gone Records Couple Thrown Toys Family Photo

Author:Jon Gordon

“When I heard Charlie Parker the first time on a record, it had seemed like an old, scratchy kind of record and I didn't get it.”

Firsts Kind Records Heard First Time Charlie

Author:Jon Gordon

“When I was 13, 14, 15, I had played in a couple of jazz ensembles. I didn't know anything about harmony, about II-V-I, though I had learned my scales with Caesar [DiMauro].”

Knows Couple Harmony Jazz Scales Ensemble

Author:Jon Gordon

“The light went on when I heard Phil [woods] play, and I went like, "That is why I'm playing the instrument." So I got very inspired, I started going to clubs through a friend's mom in the city, again, another person who just completely opened all these doors for me and it was amazing how kind she was.”

Kind Persons Play Light Cities Doors Heard Mom Instruments Inspired Clubs Woods Very Inspired

Author:Jon Gordon