Background
Gordon grew up in Newark, New Jersey.
Gordon grew up in Newark, New Jersey.
As a teenager, she was an ardent fan of jazz music In the 1940s, Gordon and Lion recorded the works of legendary jazz artists such as clarinetist Sidney Bechet and pianist Thelonious Monk. Established in 1935, the club gained a reputation among jazz musicians in the late 1950s and became the place to record live jazz performances.
In the 1980s she worked at the Brooklyn Museum.
Following her husband"s passing in 1989, Gordon assumed ownership and management of the Vanguard club She continued the club"s dedication to jazz music and maintained its reputation as a premier jazz club
Gordon"s autobiographical memoir titled Alive at the Village Vanguard: My Life In and Out of Jazz Time was published in 2006. The book chronicles her lifelong involvement with jazz music
In her memoir, Gordon writes, "I didn"t arrive at the Village Vanguard from out of the blue.
I stuck to what I loved. That was my art I"m not a musician. I"m not a singer; I"m not a painter.
I"m not an actress.
I"m none of those things. But throughout my life I followed the course of the music that I loved.".
In the 1960s, as a member of the peace activist group Women Strike for Peace, Gordon rallied against nuclear weapons testing and the Vietnam War.