Categories:
Cart 0

Your cart is empty

Kenny Dorham

A legendary jazz trumpeter, Kenny Dorham had a deeply moving, pure tone on trumpet; his sound was clear, sharp, and piercing, especially during ballads. He could spin out phrases and lines, but when he slowly and sweetly played the melody, it was an evocative event. Dorham was a gifted all-around trumpeter but seldom showcased his complete skills, preferring an understated approach. He was also a skilled composer, and his Latin tune "Blue Bossa," popularized on a classic 1963 recording with Joe Henderson, is a beloved standard. While he never received much publicity, his Blue Note albums (especially 1962's Una Mas and 1964's Trompeta Toccata) had a lasting influence on post-bop. Born in 1924 in Fairfield, Texas, Dorham studied and played trumpet, tenor sax, and piano. He was a bandmember in high school and college; a college bandmate was Wild Bill Davis. Dorham started during the swing era but was recruited by Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine to join their bands in the mid-'40s. He even sang blues with Gillespie's band. He recorded with the Be Bop Boys on Savoy in 1946. After short periods with Lionel Hampton and Mercer Ellington, Dorham joined Charlie Parker's group in 1948, staying there until 1949. He did sessions in New York during the early and mid-'50s, making his recording debut as a leader on Charles Mingus and Max Roach's Debut label in 1953. He then cut Afro-Cuban for Blue Note with Cecil Payne, Hank Mobley, and Horace Silver in 1955. Dorham was a founding member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1954 and also led a short-lived similar band, the Jazz Prophets. Dorham played on the soundtrack of A Star Is Born in 1954, then spent two years with Max Roach from 1956 to 1958. There were dates for Riverside in the late '50s with Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, and Art Taylor, plus other sessions with ABC-Paramount, three volumes for Blue Note done live at the Cafe Bohemia, and an intriguing but uneven session with John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor, Coltrane Time, in 1958. Dorham taught at the Lenox School of Jazz in 1958 and 1959, and wrote scores for the films Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Un Témoin dans la Ville in 1959. During the mid-'60s, he co-led a band with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson that was shamefully neglected. There were such classic Blue Note releases as Whistle Stop, Una Mas, and Trompeta Toccata. Dorham made one album for Cadet in 1970, Kenny Dorham Sextet, with Muhal Richard Abrams. He died in 1972. Several of his Blue Note albums have been reissued, while his Prestige and Riverside dates have come out in sporadic fashion, some in two-record samplers. Other material for Pacific Jazz, United Artists, Steeplechase, Xanadu, and Time hasn't been as widely available. There have been many archival live releases as well, including 2016's K.D. Is Here: New York City 1962 & 1966, 2019's Swedish Sessions 1964, and 2025's Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco.
© Ron Wynn /TiVo

Listen

Similar artists

Johnny Hodges
Sonny Stitt
Webster Young
Dexter Gordon
Lee Morgan
Hank Mobley
Art Farmer
Idrees Sulieman
Lester Young
Howard McGhee
Blue Mitchell
Dizzy Gillespie
Donald Byrd
Woody Shaw
Art Blakey
Freddie Hubbard
Jackie McLean
Bud Powell
Chet Baker
Clifford Brown
Fats Navarro
Max Roach
Cannonball Adderley
Thelonious Monk
Louis Armstrong
Ted Curson
Lester Bowie
Booker Little
Harold Land
Nat Adderley
Coleman Hawkins
Charlie Parker
Miles Davis

Discography

232 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

1 2 3 4 5 ... 12

My favourites

Cet élément a bien été <span>ajouté / retiré</span> de vos favoris.

Sort and filter releases

In the magazine...

Rudy Van Gelder: THE Sound of Jazz
Blue Note in 10 Albums