Kenny Dorham

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-round trumpeter, but seldom showcased his complete skills, preferring an understated, subtle approach. Unfortunately, he never received much publicity, and though a highly intelligent, thoughtful individual who wrote insightful commentary on jazz, he's little more than a footnote to many fans.

This somewhat obscure Kenny Dorham LP features the excellent hard bop trumpeter in a quintet with baritonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Buddy Enlow. The straight-ahead music includes features for Davis ("When Sunny Gets Blue") and Warren, but Dorham consistently takes honors, particularly on his "Stage West," "I'm an Old Cowhand," "Stella by Starlight," and "Lazy Afternoon."

During the spring and summer of 1956, trumpeter Kenny Dorham recorded two studio albums with his Jazz Prophets, a small hard bop band involving tenor saxophonist J.R. Monterose and a rhythm section of pianist Dick Katz, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Arthur Edgehill. On May 31 of that year, Dorham's group performed live at the Café Bohemia with Bobby Timmons at the piano and guitarist Kenny Burrell sitting in on all but the first of four sets. Originally engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and remastered by him in 2001, Blue Note's 2002 double-disc "Complete" Dorham Café Bohemia edition combines every usable track taped during this exceptionally fine evening of live jazz…

Considered Kenny Dorham's finest recording of his all-too-short career, this re-reissue has been newly remastered and presumably now includes all of the takes from these nonet and sextet sessions of 1955. Considering the time period, this date remains way ahead of the Latin-tinged and hard bop music that would follow. It would be difficult to assess the sextet being a step below the larger group effort, but only because it is much less Afro-Cuban. Nonetheless the unmistakable drumming of Art Blakey powers the combo through the blisteringly swinging "La Villa" with unison horns (Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Cecil Payne, baritone sax)…

This set was recorded in the studio on 4/4/56, one month before the classic "Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia." The fellow Prophets are J. R. Monterose, the diminutive tenor saxist of the Sonny Rollins style of blowing; Dick Katz, a very busy pianist these days who continues to grow in stature; Sam Jones, bass and Arthur Edgehill, drums.
The group’s namesake opens with a minor-keyed unison line. The second and last eight bars have a chord sequence somewhat similar to All God's Chillun Got Rhythm. The theme is followed by eight bars of what George Wallington calls “the peck” (short, staccato-phrased interplay between the two horns).
The walking Blues Elegante’ has a twelve bar opening by Dick Katz and twenty-four of Sam Jone’s big-toned bass. The two horns follow with the rather unusual theme, Kenny playing muted…