Kenny Dorham
Encyclopedia
McKinley Howard Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American
jazz
trumpeter, singer, and composer
born in Fairfield, Texas
. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did. For this reason, his name has become (in the words of writer Gary Giddins
) "virtually synonymous with underrated." He also composed the jazz standard
"Blue Bossa
," which first appeared on Joe Henderson
's album Page One.
trumpeters. He played in the big bands of Billy Eckstine
, Dizzy Gillespie
, Lionel Hampton
and Mercer Ellington
and the quintet of Charlie Parker
. He was a charter member of the original cooperative Jazz Messengers
. 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. In addition to sideman work, he 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
.
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 sixties for Blue Note and Prestige Records
, as leader and as sideman for Henderson, Jackie McLean
, Cedar Walton
, Andrew Hill
, Milt Jackson
and others.
Dorham's quintet originally consisted of some very well known jazz musicians, being Tommy Flanagan
(piano
), Paul Chambers
(double-bass) and Art Taylor
(drums
). Their recording debut was Quiet Kenny
for the New Jazz label, an album which featured mostly ballads. An earlier quartet
featuring Dorham as co-leader with alto saxophone
player Ernie Henry
had released an album together under the name "Kenny Dorham/Ernie Henry Quartet". They produced the album 2 Horns / 2 Rhythm
for Riverside Records
in 1957 with double-bassist Eddie Mathias and drummer
G.T. Hogan
. Today the album is being released under the name "Kenny Dorham Quartet", though this is due to marketing and is not technically correct.
During his final years Dorham suffered from kidney disease, from which he died on December 5, 1972, aged just 48.
With Andy Bey
With Art Blakey
With Rocky Boyd
With Tadd Dameron
With Lou Donaldson
With Matthew Gee
With Herb Geller
With Benny Golson
With Barry Harris
With Joe Henderson
With Ernie Henry
With Andrew Hill
With Milt Jackson
With Clifford Jordan
With Harold Land
With Abbey Lincoln
With Jackie McLean
With John Mehegan
With Gil Mellé
With Helen Merrill
With Hank Mobley
With Thelonious Monk
With Oliver Nelson
With Cecil Payne
With Max Roach
With Sonny Rollins
With Horace Silver
With Cecil Taylor
With Cedar Walton
With Randy Weston
With Barney Wilen
With Phil Woods
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trumpeter, singer, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
born in Fairfield, Texas
Fairfield, Texas
Fairfield is a city in Freestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,094 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Freestone County.-Geography:Fairfield is located at ....
. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did. For this reason, his name has become (in the words of writer Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic, author, and director, best known for his longtime work with The Village Voice. Born in Brooklyn, and raised on Long Island, Giddins graduated from Grinnell College, Iowa, in 1970...
) "virtually synonymous with underrated." He also composed the jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
"Blue Bossa
Blue Bossa
Blue Bossa is a 1991 album by McCoy Tyner released on the LRC label. It was recorded in February 1991 and features performances by Tyner with Avery Sharpe, Aaron Scott, Raphael Cruz and Claudio Roditi...
," which first appeared on Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
's album Page One.
Biography
Dorham was one of the most active bebopBebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
trumpeters. He played in the big bands of Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
and Mercer Ellington
Mercer Ellington
Mercer Kennedy Ellington was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger.Ellington was born in Washington, DC, the son of famous composer, pianist, and bandleader Duke Ellington...
and the quintet of Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
. He was a charter member of the original cooperative Jazz Messengers
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
. He also recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
and Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
, and he replaced Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
in the Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
Quintet after Brown's death in 1956. In addition to sideman work, he led his own groups, including the Jazz Prophets (formed shortly after Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
took over the Jazz Messengers name). The Jazz Prophets, featuring a young Bobby Timmons
Bobby Timmons
Robert Henry "Bobby" Timmons was an African American jazz pianist and composer.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is best known for his role as sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the composition of "Moanin'", "Dat Dere", and "This Here", each of which are typical of his...
on piano, bassist Sam Jones
Samuel Jones (musician)
Samuel Jones was a jazz bassist, cellist, and composer.Sam Jones was born in Jacksonville, FL and moved to New York city in 1955. There, Jones played with Bobby Timmons, Tiny Bradshaw, Les Jazz Modes, Kenny Dorham, Illinois Jacquet, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk...
and tenorman J. R. Monterose
J. R. Monterose
J. R. Monterose , born Frank Anthony Peter Vincent Monterose, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan,was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.- Early life :...
with guest Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
on guitar, recorded a live album 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia
'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia
Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia is a live album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1956 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was originally released in 1956 in two volumes with a third volume released later on the Japanese Blue Note label...
in 1956 for Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
.
In 1963 Dorham added the 26-year-old tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
to his group, which later recorded Una Mas
Una Mas
Una Mas, on the front cover named Una Mas , is a jazz album by trumpeter Kenny Dorham and his quintet, released in 1963 by Blue Note, as BLP 4127 and BST 84127. The album is one of the musician's last albums, since after 1964, he'd begin to fade and disappear from the jazz scenes...
(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
Our Thing (album)
Our Thing is the second release by American jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson on Blue Note. It features performances by Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Andrew Hill, Pete La Roca and Eddie Khan of originals by Henderson and Dorham...
and In 'n Out
In 'N Out
In 'n Out is the third album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 10, 1964 and features performances by Henderson with Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones...
. Dorham recorded frequently throughout the sixties for Blue Note and Prestige Records
Prestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
, as leader and as sideman for Henderson, Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
, Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
, Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
and others.
Dorham's quintet originally consisted of some very well known jazz musicians, being Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...
(piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
(double-bass) and Art Taylor
Art Taylor
Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
). Their recording debut was Quiet Kenny
Quiet Kenny
Quiet Kenny is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1959 and released on the New Jazz label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
for the New Jazz label, an album which featured mostly ballads. An earlier quartet
Quartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
featuring Dorham as co-leader with alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
player Ernie Henry
Ernie Henry
Ernie Henry was an American jazz saxophonist.Henry played in the late 1940s with Tadd Dameron , Fats Navarro, Charlie Ventura, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie . From 1950 to 1952 he played in the band of Illinois Jacquet...
had released an album together under the name "Kenny Dorham/Ernie Henry Quartet". They produced the album 2 Horns / 2 Rhythm
2 Horns / 2 Rhythm
2 Horns / 2 Rhythm is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances with Ernie Henry recorded in 1957 and released on the Riverside label...
for Riverside Records
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was a United States record label specializing in jazz. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer under his firm Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. in 1953, the label was a major presence in the jazz record industry for a decade...
in 1957 with double-bassist Eddie Mathias and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
G.T. Hogan
G.T. Hogan
Wilbert Granville Thodore Hogan Jr. was an American jazz drummer. He used both Granville and Wilbert professionally, and is credited variously with names and initials on albums....
. Today the album is being released under the name "Kenny Dorham Quartet", though this is due to marketing and is not technically correct.
During his final years Dorham suffered from kidney disease, from which he died on December 5, 1972, aged just 48.
As leader
- 1953: Kenny Dorham QuintetKenny Dorham Quintet (album)Kenny Dorham Quintet is a jazz studio album by trumpeter Kenny Dorham. It was his debut album as a leader and was released in 1953, on the Debut label as DLP-9 and originally included only the first six tracks. Tracks 7 and 8 were released as bonus tracks on 12-inch LP OJC-113, whilst the CD...
(DebutDebut RecordsDebut Records was a United States jazz record label, which was founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his then-wife Celia and drummer Max Roach.This short-lived label was an attempt to avoid the compromises of working for major companies...
) - 1955: Afro-CubanAfro-Cuban (album)Afro-Cuban is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham. The first release of the album dates back to 1955 on 10" Vinyl, featuring only four tracks and having a different cover artwork. Two years later, Blue Note decided to add three tracks and issue an LP...
(Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - 1956: 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia'Round About Midnight at the Cafe BohemiaRound About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia is a live album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1956 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was originally released in 1956 in two volumes with a third volume released later on the Japanese Blue Note label...
(Blue Note) - 1957: Jazz ContrastsJazz ContrastsJazz Contrasts is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1957 and released on the Riverside label...
(RiversideRiverside RecordsRiverside Records was a United States record label specializing in jazz. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer under his firm Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. in 1953, the label was a major presence in the jazz record industry for a decade...
) featuring Sonny RollinsSonny RollinsTheodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St... - 1957: 2 Horns / 2 Rhythm2 Horns / 2 Rhythm2 Horns / 2 Rhythm is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances with Ernie Henry recorded in 1957 and released on the Riverside label...
(Riverside) featuring Ernie HenryErnie HenryErnie Henry was an American jazz saxophonist.Henry played in the late 1940s with Tadd Dameron , Fats Navarro, Charlie Ventura, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie . From 1950 to 1952 he played in the band of Illinois Jacquet... - 1958: This Is the Moment!This Is the Moment!This Is the Moment! is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1958 and released on the Riverside label...
(Riverside) - 1959: Blue SpringBlue Spring (album)Blue Spring is an album by jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham and saxophonist Cannonball Adderley released on the Riverside label featuring performances by Dorham and Adderley with Dave Amram, Cecil Payne, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones or Jimmy Cobb...
(Riverside) with Cannonball Adderley - 1959: Quiet KennyQuiet KennyQuiet Kenny is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1959 and released on the New Jazz label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(New Jazz) - 1960: The Kenny Dorham Memorial AlbumThe Kenny Dorham Memorial AlbumThe Kenny Dorham Memorial Album is a jazz studio album by Kenny Dorham. It was released and recorded in 1960 under the Xanadu label.-Track listing:#"Stage West" - 8:20#"I'm an Old Cowhand" - 4:09#"Song of Delilah" - 4:25#"Butch's Blues" - 3:41...
(XanaduXanadu RecordsXanadu Records was a jazz music record label specializing in bebop throughout the 1970s and 1980s founded by Don Schlitten, recording and issuing recordings by some legendary names in jazz music.-Discography:...
) - 1960: Jazz ContemporaryJazz ContemporaryJazz Contemporary is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1960 and released on the Time label. The album features the recording debut of pianist Steve Kuhn.-Reception:...
(Time) - 1960: Show BoatShow Boat (Kenny Dorham album)Show Boat is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances of tunes from the Jerome Kern musical Show Boat recorded in 1960 and released on the Time label.-Reception:...
(Time) - 1961: Whistle StopWhistle Stop (Kenny Dorham album)Whistle Stop is a jazz studio album by Kenny Dorham. It features very famous musicians such as Hank Mobley on tenor sax and Paul Chambers on bass. It was recorded in January 1961 at Van Gelder Studio, in Englewood Cliffs. It was originally released as BST 84063 and BLP 4063 and was remastered in...
(Blue Note) - 1961: Inta Somethin'Inta Somethin'Inta Somethin' is an live album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco in 1961 and released on the Pacific Jazz label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 4½ stars....
(Pacific JazzPacific Jazz RecordsPacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....
) - 1962: MatadorMatador (Kenny Dorham album)Matador is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances recorded in 1962 and released on the United Artists label.-Reception:...
(United ArtistsUnited Artists RecordsUnited Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
) - 1963: Una MasUna MasUna Mas, on the front cover named Una Mas , is a jazz album by trumpeter Kenny Dorham and his quintet, released in 1963 by Blue Note, as BLP 4127 and BST 84127. The album is one of the musician's last albums, since after 1964, he'd begin to fade and disappear from the jazz scenes...
(Blue Note) - 1963: Scandia Skies (SteepleChaseSteepleChase RecordsSteepleChase Records is a jazz record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time...
) - 1963: Short Story (SteepleChase)
- 1964: Trompeta ToccataTrompeta ToccataTrompeta Toccata is a 1964 jazz album by trumpeter Kenny Dorham. It was released on Blue Note label in 1964 as BST 84181. It was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder in 2006. Trompeta Toccata, as the previous Una Mas, features only four pieces, three of which were written by Dorham himself. They are...
(Blue Note)
As sideman
With Toshiko AkiyoshiToshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
- Toshiko at Top of the GateToshiko at Top of the GateToshiko at Top of the Gate is a live jazz album by pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi. It was recorded at the Top of the Gate club in New York City in July 1968 and was released by Nippon Columbia and Denon Records.- Track listing :...
(1968)
With Andy Bey
Andy Bey
Andrew W. Bey is a jazz singer and pianist.Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan....
- Andy and the Bey Sisters (1959)
With Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
- The Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia Volume 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey for Blue Note Records. It featured the third incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Café Bohemia, a famous night club in...
(1955) - The Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia Volume 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records. This record featured the third incarnation of The Jazz Messengers, one of Blakey's most endearing bands, and was the second of two volumes recorded at Café Bohemia, a...
(1955)
With Rocky Boyd
- Ease It (1961)
With Tadd Dameron
Tadd Dameron
Tadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger and pianist. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement, while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland,...
- FontainebleauFontainebleau (album)Fontainebleau is a 1956 album by jazz musician Tadd Dameron.-Track listing:# "Fontainebleau" – 4:48# "Delirium" – 5:00# "The Scene Is Clean" – 5:00# "Flossie Lou" – 4:50# "Bula-Beige" – 11:20All tracks composed by Tadd Dameron-Personnel:...
(1956)
With Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
- Quartet/Quintet/SextetQuartet/Quintet/SextetQuartet/Quintet/Sextet is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson featuring his earliest recordings as a leader on the Blue Note label performed by Donaldson's Quartet with Horace Silver, Gene Ramey and Art Taylor, his Quintet with Silver, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, and Percy Heath, and a Sextet...
(1954)
With Matthew Gee
Matthew Gee
Matthew Gee was an American bebop trombonist and part time actor.Gee played trumpet and baritone as a child, and took up the trombone at age 11. After studying at Alabama State University, he played with Coleman Hawkins before doing a stint in the Army...
- Jazz by Gee! (1956)
With Herb Geller
Herb Geller
Herb Geller , is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger.His musical abilities could have been inherited from his mother, Francis. She worked at the Hollywood neighbourhood cinemas playing piano, accompanying silent movies...
- Fire in the West (1957)
With Benny Golson
Benny Golson
Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...
- The Modern Touch (1957)
With Barry Harris
Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator.-Biography:Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960...
- Bull's Eye (1968)
With Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
- Page One (1963)
- Our ThingOur Thing (album)Our Thing is the second release by American jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson on Blue Note. It features performances by Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Andrew Hill, Pete La Roca and Eddie Khan of originals by Henderson and Dorham...
(1963) - In 'n OutIn 'N OutIn 'n Out is the third album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 10, 1964 and features performances by Henderson with Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones...
(1964)
With Ernie Henry
Ernie Henry
Ernie Henry was an American jazz saxophonist.Henry played in the late 1940s with Tadd Dameron , Fats Navarro, Charlie Ventura, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie . From 1950 to 1952 he played in the band of Illinois Jacquet...
- Presenting Ernie Henry (1956)
With Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
- Point of Departure (1964)
With Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
- Invitation (1962)
With Clifford Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
- Starting Time (1961)
- In the World (1969)
With Harold Land
Harold Land
Harold de Vance Land was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. Land developed his hard bop playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown band into a personal, modern style. His tone was strong and emotional, yet displayed a certain fragility that made him easy to...
- Eastward Ho! (1960)
With Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
- That's Him (1957)
- It's Magic (1958)
- Abbey Is Blue (1959)
With Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
- VertigoVertigo (Jackie McLean album)Vertigo' is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1962 and 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980. The original 1980 release contained only the five tracks from 1963 but the later 2000 CD release added six tracks from the 1962 session originally marked for...
(1962)
With John Mehegan
John Mehegan
John Mehegan was an American jazz pianist, lecturer and critic.Mehegan was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and began playing the piano at the age of five. He taught himself to play by matching his fingers to the notes played on a neighborhood player piano. His mother gave him violin lessons,...
- Casual Affair (1959)
With Gil Mellé
Gil Melle
Gil Mellé was an American artist, jazz musician and film composer.In the 1950s, Mellé's paintings and sculptures were shown in New York galleries and he created the cover art for albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins...
- Gil's GuestsGil's GuestsGil's Guests is an album by American saxophonist Gil Mellé recorded in 1956 and released on the Prestige label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and stated "Baritonist Gil Melle's recordings are usually a bit unusual and this CD reissue is no exception.....
(1956)
With Helen Merrill
Helen Merrill
Helen Merrill is an internationally known jazz vocalist.Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy as well as in her native United States...
- You've Got a Date with the Blues (1959)
With Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
- Mobley's 2nd MessageMobley's 2nd MessageMobley's 2nd Message is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Prestige label in 1957. It was recorded on July 27, 1956, one week after Mobley's Message , and features performances by Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Walter Bishop, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor.- Track listing :# "These Are...
(1956) - Curtin CallCurtain Call (Hank Mobley album)Curtain Call is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley first released on the Blue Note label in Japan in 1984. It was recorded on August 18, 1957 and features Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Jimmy Rowser, Sonny Clark and Art Taylor.-Reception:...
(1957)
With Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
- Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 is the name given to at least four different compilation albums by jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk. Each version comprises some of Monk's recordings as a band leader for Blue Note, recorded between 1947 and 1952...
(1952)
With Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
- Meet Oliver Nelson (1959)
With Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne was a jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, NY. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute...
- Zodiac (1968)
With Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
- Max Roach + 4 (1956)
- Jazz in ¾ Time (1957)
- The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker (1958)
With Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
- Moving OutMoving Out (album)-Track listing:All compositions by Sonny Rollins except as indicatedSide one# "Moving Out" - 4:31# "Swingin' for Bumsy" - 5:48# "Silk 'n' Satin" - 4:03Side two# "Solid" - 6:27# "More Than You Know" - 10:48...
(1954) - Rollins Plays for BirdRollins Plays for BirdRollins Plays for Bird is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded for the Prestige label, featuring performances by Rollins with Kenny Dorham, Wade Legge, George Morrow, and Max Roach on material associated with Charlie Parker.-Reception:...
(1956)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Horace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1955 album by jazz pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey. It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first album released under the band name Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career...
(1954)
With Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
- Hard Driving JazzColtrane TimeStereo Drive is an album by jazz musician Cecil Taylor featuring John Coltrane, released in 1959 on United Artists Records, catalogue UAS 5014. The mono edition was issued as UAL 4014 with the title Hard Driving Jazz, and later reissued under Coltrane's name in 1963 as Coltrane Time...
(1958)
With Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
- Cedar! (1967)
With Randy Weston
Randy Weston
Randy Weston , is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.-Biography:Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians...
- Live at the Five Spot (1959)
With Barney Wilen
Barney Wilen
Barney Wilen was a French tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer.Wilen was born in Nice; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. He began performing in clubs in Nice after being encouraged by Blaise Cendrars who was a friend of his mother...
- Barney (1959)
- Un Temoin Dans La Ville (1959)
With Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
- Pairing Off (1956)