Dexter Gordon discusses his strength as a player.

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Dexter Gordon discusses his fame in Japan.

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Dexter Gordon discusses musical integrity versus commercial success.

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Q: “How have you resisted the temptation to become a pop artist – a Grover Washington rather than a Dexter Gordon? Because you have certainly had the opportunity…”

A: “Yes, but nobody ever asked me. No, in fact, I've ... yeah, I've seen that from, you know, the beginning and of course, there are some things that you do that, you know, is going to impact an audience. But I try to stay away from that as much as possible. I mean, I really don't appreciate it too much. Because it becomes so obvious that when you hear somebody play like that, you know, no matter how well they play it. You know, I try to, you know, tell my story, et cetera, et cetera. And in the process, sometime, you know, you do a little something that's effective and that you know is effective. I only do that when, you know, building up to a climax or something like that. But, yeah, that has always bothered me, you know, to hear people and they, you know, play like that, you know, that they're just playing. You know, it really disturbs me when I hear people play like that because I know that they're not really attempting to really say anything. Because actually they're playing down to people, you know. And you know, you like to think that your audience is capable of, you know, of understanding of assimilating what you're trying to do, you know.”