DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed* diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  • Recurrent high-grade osteosarcoma (closed to accrual as of 12/21/06) or Ewing's sarcoma

    • Progressive disease after standard therapy
    • Received no more than 2 additional salvage regimens

  • Chondrosarcoma

    • Unresectable OR locally recurrent and unable to be completely resected NOTE: *Biopsy required for isolated pulmonary recurrences

• Measurable disease

  • At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion by medical imaging techniques
  • Ascites, pleural effusions, and bone marrow disease are not considered measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 4 and over

Performance status

• ECOG 0-2 (≥ 18 years of age)
• Karnofsky 50-100% (11-17 years of age)
• Lansky 50-100% (≤ 10 years of age)

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3 (transfusion independent)
• Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic

• Bilirubin ≤ upper limit of normal (ULN) (except for patients with Gilbert's syndrome)
• ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN

Renal

• Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate > 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2 OR

• Serum creatinine ≤ ULN for age:

  • Ages 5 and under ≤ 0.8 mg/dL
  • Ages 6 to 10 ≤ 1.0 mg/dL
  • Ages 11 to 15 ≤ 1.2 mg/dL
  • Ages 16 to 18 ≤ 1.5 mg/dL

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after study participation
• Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior chemotherapy ≤ grade 1
• Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior surgery or tumor involvement ≤ grade 2 AND stable or improving
• No active or uncontrolled infection
• No known hypersensitivity reaction to docetaxel or other polysorbate 80-formulated agents

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• At least 72 hours since prior filgrastim (G-CSF)
• No prior allogeneic transplantation
• No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy

• At least 2 weeks since prior myelosuppressive therapy
• At least 6 months since prior myeloablative therapy
• No prior gemcitabine
• No prior taxanes
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Concurrent hormonal therapy allowed

Radiotherapy

• At least 6 weeks since prior local radiotherapy
• At least 4 months since prior extensive radiotherapy to more than 50% of the pelvis
• At least 4 months since prior cranial spinal radiotherapy
• At least 6 months since prior total body irradiation
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• No concurrent surgery

Other

• Recovered from all prior therapy
• No other concurrent investigational anticancer therapy