Kenny Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public recognition from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did. For this reason, writer Gary Giddins said that Dorham's name has become "virtually synonymous with underrated." Dorham composed the jazz standard "Blue Bossa", which first appeared on Joe Henderson's album Page One.
McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham, born in Fairfield, Texas. He began playing trumpet in high school, and also studied tenor sax and piano. He attended Wiley College (Marshall, Texas), and was on a U.S. Army boxing team in 1942. After his discharge a year later, he spent a short stint in California, playing in Russell Jacquet's big band. Career finally off to a running start, he demonstrated first-rate attributes within the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Mercer Ellington, then Gillespie. He soon replaced cherub-faced dynamo Fats Navarro in Billy Eckstine's band.
During 1946-47, Dorham freelanced with pianist Bud Powell, saxophonist Sonny Stitt, and charismatic drummer Art Blakey, with whom he'd have less fortunate associations. In 1948, he studied composition at the now-defunct Gotham School of Music, using his G.I. Bill benefits. He joined Parker's band in December 1948. Flaunting a unique capacity to speak and sing with his instrument, versus running scales vertically, Dorham added considerable subtlety and discipline to any session.
He was a charter member of the original cooperative Jazz Messengers. Dorham played on the soundtrack of A Star Is Born in 1954. He also recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, and he replaced Clifford Brown in the Max Roach Quintet after Brown's death in 1956. Dorham was one of the most active of bebop trumpeters noted for the beauty of his tone and for his lyricism.
In addition to sideman work, Dorham led his own groups, including the Jazz Prophets (formed shortly after Art Blakey took over the Jazz Messengers name). The Jazz Prophets, featuring a young Bobby Timmons on piano, bassist Sam Jones, and tenorman J. R. Monterose, with guest Kenny Burrell on guitar, recorded a live album 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia in 1956 for Blue Note. He taught at the Lenox (Massachsettes) School of Jazz between 1958 and 1959 and also wrote the scores for two films” Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and “Un Temoin Dans La Ville” in 1959.
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In 1963, Dorham added the 26-year-old tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson to his group, which later recorded Una Mas (the group also featured a young Tony Williams). The friendship between the two musicians led to a number of other albums, such as Henderson's Page One, Our Thing and In 'n Out. Dorham recorded frequently throughout the 1960s for Blue Note and Prestige Records, as leader and as sideman for Henderson, Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Andrew Hill, Milt Jackson and others. He also led a group with hank Mobley and studied at the New York University graduate school of music.
Dorham miraculously arrived at his own benefit at Old West Church in Boston on Sunday, December 3, 1942, an event created with the help of trumpeter Claudio Roditi and associate minister/player Mark Harvey. "It was quite remarkable because he was not in good health," says Harvey. "We started talking trumpet, and he said, 'Well, I have my horn, could I play?'" As the show's closer, a 10-man trumpet choir began Dizzy Gillespie's 1942 standard "A Night in Tunisia," with Dorham taking the first solo. It was the last tune he played in public. He died from kidney disease two days later on December 5, 1972, aged 48.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Britannica AllMusic & The Austin Chronicle)