Happy Birthday to Kenny Dorham

August 30, 2008

McKinley Howard Dorham, aka Kenny Dorham
August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972.
 

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.
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Roy Hargrove Quintet, ‘Earfood’

August 12, 2008

You’ve all heard of ‘eye candy,’ well this one is most assuredly not just ‘Earfood’ it’s candy for the ears!

Roy’s goal on this project was “to have a recording that is steeped in tradition and sophistication, while maintaining a sense of melodic simplicity.” He truly achieved that goal and then some. Roy Hargrove, one of the ‘young lions’ to arrive on the scene in the late eighties and early nineties, is continuing to do very nice things. With a style most closely aligned with Lee Morgan, Roy knows how to sound like a ‘badboy’. This compilation is masterful, taking post-bop to the next level. Roy has beautiful and warm ballad ability and demonstrates that here as well.

The tracks are:

1. I’m Not So Sure
2. Brown
3. Strasbourg/St. Denis
4. Starmaker
5. Joy is Sorrow Unmasked
6. The Stinger
7. Rouge
8. Mr. Clean
9. Style
10. Divine
11. To Wisdom the Prize
12. Speak Low
13. Bring it on Home to Me