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The great Kenny Dorham


Claude Schlouch

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One date with KD I like a lot is this one:

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A great date, recorded October 1, 1961 by Peter Ind, it features KD, Curtis Fuller, the great Frank Haynes on tenor (he's also on that other Bailey album that came out last as "Reaching Out" under Grant Green's name), Flanagan, Ben Tucker and Bailey. Their take on Rollins' "Grand Street" is great, also some other interesting numbers are played: KD's "An Oscar For Oscar", Osie Johnson's "Osmosis", and a tune by Norris Turney, named "Soul Support", among other things. Then there's two trio tracks (Flanagan/Tucker/Bailey), too.

I got it on this Prevue reissue which came out as under Flanagan's name ("Trio & Sextet", Prevue CD PR 11):

B00000JK2W.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

ubu

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Medjuck - His real name was "McKinley" I believe, shortened to "Kinny" which eventually became "Kenny". I once read a very informative item on the difficulty of maintaining high notes on trumpet once breath begins to run out, thereby leading many players to begin phrases at the top and tail off to lower notes as breath expires. The article said that KD had not solved this problem like, say, Dizzy had and having been told about it I began to notice it. Doesn't detract from my enjoyment of oistening to him though. Any trumpet players care to comment? I doubt that Booker Little had a problem - one of my favorite trumpeters. Does anyone know his album under his own name with Tommy Flanagan, Scott LaFaro and Roy Haynes? Includes Bee Tee's minor Plea, etc. Great album!

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

There is also the volume 1 "Kenny Dorham-Blowin' from New York 1964, Vol.1" (Raretone 5021-FC) containing the August 21, 1964 session at P.S. 173 Harlem, also issued on Xanadu 205. The very first release of this session was on an LP Harlem Youth Unlimited 1001 titled "Haryou Act presents Jazz at P.S. 173.

To my knowledge, the short-living label Raretone didn't release anything else concerning Kenny Dorham.

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I just found this site and I'm happy to see that my dad still has so many dedicated fans and admirers. During many of the years that KD didnot record he was devoting his time to supporting and raising his family of 5 daughters of which I am one. He also spent much of this time as an arranger for many of his friends, peers and fellow musicians. I was fortunate enough to have sat in on some of those sessions as he did his writing at home. When the giants of bebop came by to chat, laugh and discuss their views and attitudes about the music that was their colletive passions.

KD was a very principled man who held true to his beliefs and accepted the consequences those beliefs brought. He always wished to remain true to his music.

Now that I know this site is here I will certainly come back and let you know what's up coming in the near future in terms of sharing his music and legacy.

Thanks for sending out positive vibes into the atmosphere, I'm sure they are reaching the heavens!

JazzGirl3

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The Library of Congress has a tape in the Newport Jazz Festival collection of a July 1961 Jazz Messengers concert during which Lee Morgan was absent and replaced by Kenny Dorham. It is the only known recording of Kenny with Wayne Shorter. They do 'Paper Moon' and 'Moanin''.

I hope this can be issued someday.

Bertrand.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bertrand, thank you for the tip regarding my dad's performance at the Newport Jazz Festival performance with the Messengers. I was not aware of this recording. I would appreciate any other tips or memorabilia that can be included in the archive his family is organizing to be donated.

JazzGirl 3

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Jazzgirl,

My pleasure. Kenny is one of my favorite musicians (Afro-Cuban and Whistle Stop are my favorite recordings of his), and this Newport performance is fabulous. It really makes me wish Kenny and Wayne had collaborated in the studio.

Tell us more about this archive - do you already have a specific place it is going to be donated to, or is that still under discussion?

Bertrand.

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  • 1 month later...

Currently reading - and enjoying - 'Good Vibes', the autobiography of Terry Gibbs.

He mentions being asked by Norman Granz to put a big band together and conduct for Ella Fitzgerald

at the Apollo Theater. Gibbs was leading his Dream band in LA at the time (1959) and asked

Gerry Mulligan to front the band while he was in New York.

Gibbs indicates that among the musicians he hired for the Apollo week were Kenny Dorham

and J.R. Montrose (with wrong spelling).

Besides Ella, there was Oscar Peterson, Roy Eldridge and Sonny Stitt on the same bill.

The book includes several vignette size of the Apollo appearance including two photos

that show the Gibbs band. Too small to identify anyone but I thought I recognized

Dorham and Jimmy Cleveland among the players.

The caption to the photos give the Apollo week date as September 11-17, 1959.

Wonder if there is any tape from those Apollo dates?

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Hey Bertrand.

I am glad we met each other tonight. This bboard is killin!

And just to put my two cents on here, I really dig Una Mas. I actually found out about the song as probably many younguns these days are finding out about Kenny's lesser known compositions - through today's vanguard of trumpet players who owe so much of where the instrument has gone in the hard bop vein to the man called Kenny Dorham.

Specifically, I was wowed by the version on Roy Hargrove's Crisol Band on the album "Habana." Great supporting line-up. The highlight of the tune for me is Gary Bartz' alto solo. Man - so soulful. Makes me wanna praise de lawd.

I saw Gary on a panel on race in jazz sponsored by the JJA at IAJE. It was moderated by JJA president Howard Mandel (who perchance has an excellent trumpet roundtable article in this month's issue of DownBeat where they discuss underrated trumpeters).

c- B) ball-addict

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I forgot to mention one thing. I just recently picked up some early KD. This CD is titled Kenny Dorham: The Complete Savoy Recordings. It seems to be very new but may not be. I found it on Half.com.

The material was recorded from 1946 through 1949. It is all on one CD but all the tracks are short since the technology back at the time was so limiting to the possible length of tracks.

For those interested PM me about the specifics.

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And, while we're at it, what recordings between '66 - '72 with Dorham on them are you most fond of?

I always thought that KD's playing on Cecil Payne's 'Zodiac' on Strata-East was really

excellent. One of Dorham's best session ever.

My preferred Dorham's later dates.

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C-ball addict and Stefan and I met at a Dave Holland concert last night at the Library of Congress which was absolutely fabulous. They played a new Chris Potter tune, 'Vicissitudes' that was totally amazing. The whole band (Potter, Eubanks, Nelson, new drummer Nate Smith, and of course the leader) were on fire throughout.

A truly memorable evening.

Bertrand.

Edited by bertrand
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The material was recorded from 1946 through 1949. It is all on one CD but all the tracks are short since the technology back at the time was so limiting to the possible length of tracks.

first of all: welcome a-board!

the disk you mention must be this one:

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It's on the Disconforme/Definitive label, which is not held in very high esteem by some. The label is based in Andorra and works according to the European copyright law, which brings music in the public domain after 50 years. The bad rap about Definitive is usually that it uses masters/transfers made by other companies.

Anyhow, the music is very good; it collects Savoy master takes and some Prestige and Blue Note sides. The Savoy material has been released by Savoy on a bit-of-everything-complete disk in 1998, pairing it with loose ends from the Eckstine and Parker discographies and a 1956 Cecil Payne session. I believe that disk (AMG link) is the only source for the complete Be Bop Boys (Stitt/Dorham co-lead) material.

The Milt Jackson tracks with Julius Watkins can also be found on that disk as on a Savoy Milt Jackson collection.

The Prestige sides are led by J.J. Johnson and feature Sonny Rollins. There were released on the Prestige LP trombone by three (also available on CD); The BN material is on the Art Blakey/James Moody New Sounds 10" and various compilations.

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  • 5 months later...

I must have missed this thread the first time. But Jazzgrl3 -- your dad has provided many of us with hours of beautiful music. Thanks for contributing to this thread.

I went through my five Kenny CDs (obviously I also have his work with Blakey, Silver, Andrew H and Joe H) this week. I'm still iffy on the Bohemia set, but Whistle Stop -- yowza. A really great album! Kenny's tunes here are phenomenal and it has some of the best playing I've ever heard from Hank. I think I sort of missed this album since I picked it up around the same time as Una Mas but it didn't have quite the same star power.

Anyway, nice to rediscover great albums.

Guy

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