House on Music to Calm Elections Jitters: remembering Jazz Man Dexter Gordon

Roger House, associate professor in American Studies, writes for The Hill that listening to jazz man Dexter Gordon can help us be calm and relieve stress during this election season.

As election day nears, many people are looking for ways to relieve the stress of political uncertainty. Some may find the recordings of the late jazz master Dexter Gordon — who excelled in turning chaos into beauty — helpful in coping with the anxiety of the final stretch.

House recommends “Dexter Gordon: 12 Classic Albums, 1947-1962,” as it’s a repository of more than 400 minutes of formative West Coast bebop. He found that “Autumn in New York,” a 1934 jazz standard by Vernon Duke, can be a meditative track. The ballad was actually featured in the 1986 jazz film “Round Midnight” by Bertrand Tavernier. The 6’6” Gordon was cast as the leader of a group of expatriate jazz musicians in Paris, and was nominated for an Academy Award.