Trumpet Dude salutes one of the best today, Happy Birthday Kenny! Yes, Kenny Dorham was one of the best voices to ever travel the trajectories of a trumpet. While his playing voice was incredible, he never received the accolades he should have from the jazz establishment, always overshadowed by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro. Perhaps this is simply because he didn’t have a flamboyant personality like the others. I can only speculate, but in fact, he was referred to as ‘quiet Kenny.’ Regardless, his playing has stood the test of time and is now considered some of the best and a must listen for any aspiring jazz trumpeter today. I myself had not heard of Kenny until trumpeter Dave Scott turned me on to him some years ago, asserting that Kenny was his favorite. To this day, I am utterly amazed and challenged by the music that Kenny composed in his improvisations.

Kenny grew up in south Texas and began to teach himself piano and trumpet during High School. During High School he also spent a lot of time on the school boxing team. He studied chemistry and physics in college and was drafted into the Army in 1942. By 1945 he was playing in the first Dizzy Gillespie big band. Thereafter, he played with other great jazz players and leaders including Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Mercer Ellington and also the BeBop Boys (aka 52nd Street Boys).

Kenny was a wonderful composer. He composed and arranged several great pieces including, “Okay for Baby” for Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter, and “Malibu” for Cootie Williams. He also did ghosting arrangements for the infamous Gil Fuller that were sold to several name big bands, including Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, and Gene Krupa. He is also remembered for writing the jazz standard, ‘Blue Bossa.’

In late 1948, Kenny replaced Miles Davis in the Charlie Parker quintet where he continued to play for a year or so. This group played together at the Paris Jazz Fair in 1949. Following that gig, Kenny did free lance work in New York playing alongside many greats including the brilliant players and composers Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk.

Twice in his playing career Kenny replaced trumpeter Clifford Brown. First, for Art Blakey’s group the ‘Jazz Messengers,’ in 1954, when Clifford formed the infamous quintet with Max Roach (Brown/Roach Quintet) and then replacing him in that same group in late 1956 when Clifford tragically died in an auto accident.

Kenny also headed several of his own groups including a group he named the ‘Jazz Prophets.’ A notable player that joined one of Kenny’s groups was a young tenor saxophonist, Joe Henderson, who was 26 when he teamed up with Kenny in 1963. They formed a long lasting friendship and were quite prolific producing many fine pieces for Blue Note and Prestige, including my favorite, ‘Una Mas.’ This documented period also reveals Kenny playing with up and comer, Herbie Hancock.

During his short life, Kenny also wrote several great and insightful reviews for the jazz magazine, ‘Downbeat.’

Happy Birthday, Kenny!!

Speaking of Mr. John Birks Gillespie, I read recently that he didn’t always play with his cheeks puffed out, but that as he got older he needed that extra muscular support to assist him.  Anyway, for the younger readers who don’t fully know, Dizzy is remembered as being the forefather and a principal founder of the jazz style known as Bebop and is credited for introducing the Afro Cuban style sounds into jazz. As a trumpeter, Dizzy literally founded an entire school of playing technique with his dazzling flights of notes, employing the entire range of the horn in harmonically intense solos. At some time in or around the early 1950’s, Dizzy began to explore the various music of other countries and cultures of the world. He is universally credited with being the catalyst behind introducing Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Caribbean music and rhythms into the jazz scene. He felt strongly and stated “jazz celebrates the internationality of music, our common bond.” As an aside, he put himself forward as a presidential candidate in 1964, promising to rename the White House, the Blue House!

 Anyway, recently Gill Fuller has put together a nice remix of a 1965 concert at the Monterey Jazz Festival and has put out a nice two album set featuring the Diz on one and James Moody on another. Gil Fuller’s jazz credentials date back to the late-forties when he was the principal architect of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band with James Moody. Gil Fuller, an arranger, pulled together the cream of LA’s jazz and studio scenes around 1965 to form the Monterey Jazz Orchestra.  To preserve those great performances, in this recent release entitled, ‘Dizzy Gillespie & James Moody with Gil Fuller & the Monterey Jazz Festival,’ Fuller has pulled choice tunes from bebop, tin-pan-alley, and other contemporary originals of his old friends. The result is some exceptional playing from Gillespie and Moody. Both albums, newly remixed from the original three- and four-track master tapes, are complete on this 75-minute CD. Check this out!