Home » Jazz Musicians » Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day.
McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself to play piano and trumpet, and spending much of his time on the school boxing team. He later enrolled at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, studying chemistry and minoring in physics. During this time he experimented with arranging, writing for the stage band, where he met such players as Wild Bill Davis, Harold Land, and Roy Porter.
He was drafted into the army in 1942 (spending some time with the army boxing team) and was discharged about a year later.
In late 1943 he joined the Russell Jacquet orchestra in Houston, and he spent much of 1944 playing the band of Frank Humphries. By 1945, Dorham had gained positions with Dizzy Gillespie's short-lived first big band, and then replaced Fats Navarro in Billy Eckstine's orchestra. In 1946 he recorded with the Be Bop Boys (aka the 52nd Street Boys, including Fats Navarro), and spent time playing in the bands of Lionel Hampton and Mercer Ellington.
During this time, Dorham continued to compose and arrange (he arranged "Okay for Baby" for Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter, and "Malibu" for Cootie Williams), ghosting arrangements for Walter 'Gil' Fuller which were sold to several name big bands, including Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, and Gene Krupa.
In 1948, Dorham studied composition and arranging at the Gotham School of Music under the G.I. Bill. On Christmas Eve of that year, Dorham performed for the first time as replacement for Miles Davis in the Charlie Parker quintet, where he would play for about a year (Davis had recommended Dorham for the job), including an appearance at the 1949 Paris Jazz Fair.
After a two-year hiatus starting in 1950, during which Dorham lived and worked day jobs in California, he settled in New York City and began a busy career as a free-lance musician, perorming with players such as Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk, and Mary Lou Williams. In 1952 Dorham recorded with Monk and in late 1953 led his first recording as a leader, a 10-inch record on the Debut label.
Read moreTags
Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
by Jack Kenny
The vagaries of the jazz life are all over this release. Why Kenny Dorham should be underappreciated is a mystery. For the gig at the Blue Morocco he had assembled a great super group with a deep well of experience. Drummer Denis Charles had worked with Cecil Taylor. Kenny Dorham had accompanied Charlie Parker, at Parker's peak. Bassist Paul Chambers had supported both Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. Pianist Cedar Walton had been in the Jazz Messengers. alto sax man ...
Continue ReadingKenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
by Thierry De Clemensat
Another remarkable chapter in contemporary music comes to life once again, thanks to Resonance Records. It was from 1967 that Blue Bossa In The Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco emerged, an unreleased performance by the legendary jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham, recorded live at the Blue Morocco jazz club in the jny: Bronx, NY. The session features Sonny Red, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers and Denis Charles. Transferred from the original tape reels captured by the renowned engineer Bernard ...
Continue ReadingKenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
by Pierre Giroux
Trumpeter Kenny Dorham's stature in jazz history is undeniable, yet he remains one of music's most under-appreciated masters. Despite being a vital presence among the great innovators of his era, Dorham never achieved the star power his talent deserved. In conjunction with Record Store Day, Resonance Records is releasing Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco as a deluxe CD edition that captures Dorham in fiery form during a never-before-heard live performance. The package includes Bob Blumenthal's ...
Continue ReadingKenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
by Troy Dostert
On their 1955 live recording At the Cafe Bohemia (Blue Note), the Jazz Messengers' Art Blakey introduced his trumpet player, Kenny Dorham, as the “Uncrowned King," a title that was perhaps fitting at the time given Dorham's still-rising trajectory. But even in his prime, Dorham arguably never received his proper accolades, and he would typically be regarded as more of a “musician's musician" than some of the more celebrated trumpeters like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan or Freddie Hubbard. Hence, the ...
Continue ReadingTadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Maurizio Zerbo
Le linee guida di Fontainebleau e Magic Touch, i due capolavori di Tadd Dameron qui riuniti in un solo CD, furono teorizzate dal pianista di Cleveland sulle pagine della rivista Record Changer, in cui descrisse come la sua adesione all'estetica del bebop fosse mediata dalla classica scrittura swing. Le forme multitematiche ABA e i trasporti di chorus di “The Scene Is Clean," nonché i quattro movimenti di “Fontainebleau" che non contengono una sola nota improvvisata, forniscono prove tangibili ...
Continue ReadingTadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Chris May
There is much that is tragic about Tadd Dameron's story. The composer, arranger and pianist fell prey to the heroin epidemic that gripped New York's jazz world in the 1940s and 1950s. He did jail time for his addiction in 1959-60. He died at the woefully young age of 48 years in 1965. But there is nothing tragic about Dameron's legacy as a composer-arranger, the field in which he made his most important contribution to jazz. His work was unfailingly ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Celebrating 75 Years Of His First Recordings Revisited
by Stefano Merighi
Affrontare oggi queste pagine monkiane significa non solo riconsiderare l'importanza cruciale di un repertorio senza tempo, ma provare proprio un'ebbrezza dell'ascolto difficilmente eguagliabile. Thelonious Monk marchia a fuoco con la sua personalità tutta un'epoca del jazz che è quella rivoluzionaria del bebop--nonché quella “riformista" dell'hard bop--e stabilisce molte delle coordinate che ispirano la migliore musica africana-americana di oggi, sia di orientamento free che di stampo armonico progressive. In questo caso, la collana ezz-thetics realizza un'operazione davvero interessante, assemblando ...
Continue ReadingKenny Dorham's Centenary
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30 will mark the 100th anniversary of Kenny Dorham's birth. The trumpeter and singer was born in Texas in 1924 and always seemed to be at the right place at the right time. Early on, he played in the bop bands of Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie and jump blues band of Lionel Hampton. From 1948 to '50, Dorham was a member of the Charlie Parker Quintet that was often recorded live. In 1951 he recorded with Thelonious Monk, ...
read more
Backgrounder: Kenny Dorham: Una Mas, 1963
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The second to last studio album trumpeter Kenny Dorham released as a leader before he died in 1972 was Una Mas (One More Time). Featuring just three original songs, the album was one of his best. An early adapter of bebop in the mid-1940s, Dorham was most famously in Charlie Parker's quintet of 1948 and '49, the one that recorded live during a run at New York's Royal Roost and became an important box set. From there, Durham had a ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself ...
read more
Kenny Dorham in 10 Tracks
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Kenny Dorham never received the recognition he deserved. I'm not sure why. Part of the problem, I suppose, is that he was a gentler soul among hotter players such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown and others. He certainly was on plenty of remarkable recording sessions, and his playing was pretty and engaging. Listening to him yesterday, I figured why not blow him out a bit today to show just how remarkable he was. Choosing 10 ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham\'s abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin... Read more.
Place our Musician ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham\'s abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin... Read more.
Place our Musician ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!
Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham\'s abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin... Read more.
Place our Musician ...
read more
Michael Parkinson
trumpet
Brian Lynch
trumpet
Tim Fox
piano
Dan Miller
trumpet
Steve Lambert
trumpet
Chet Chwalik
trumpet
J.Q. Whitcomb
trumpet
Anthony G Bailey
trumpet
Ellister van der Molen
flugelhorn
Paul Tafoya
trumpet
Elliot Bild
trumpet
Jun Iida
trumpet
Marshal Herridge
bass
Robert Vega-Dowda
trumpet
Mikko Karjalainen
trumpet
Tomi Nikku
trumpet
Zachary McDonald
bass, electric
Kriz Flew aka Christoph Flueler
trumpet
Stephen Enos
trumpet
Thomas Fryland
trumpet
Bianca Love
trumpet and vocalsPhotos
Music
Similar
Miles Davis
trumpet
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto
Freddie Hubbard
trumpet
Art Blakey
drums
Cannonball Adderley
saxophone
McCoy Tyner
piano
Lee Morgan
trumpet
Jackie McLean
saxophone, alto
Woody Shaw
trumpet
Fats Navarro
trumpet
Blue Mitchell
trumpet
Howard McGhee
trumpet
Lester Bowie
trumpet
Ted Curson
trumpet
Nat Adderley
trumpet
