Kenny
Dorham (trumpet); Sonny Red (alto sax); Cedar Walton (piano); Paul Chambers
(bass); Denis Charles (drums)
Another piece of buried treasure unearthed by the intrepid Zev Feldman.
Recorded live at the Blue Morocco Club up in the Bronx back in 1967 it serves to demonstrate just how great a trumpet player Kenny Dorham was and how, living in an age where his contemporaries included Fats Navarro, Dizzy, Miles, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, underrated he was. On the strength of his playing on this album it soon becomes evident that, on his day, he could hold his own with any of them. On that night in the Bronx he was most certainly 'on his day'.
Sonny Red (Sylvester Kyner) was another who never received the recognition he deserved. One of the three alto playing Sonnys - Stitt and Criss being the other two - inspired by Parker (which modern alto player wasn't?) Red, unlike Stitt and to a lesser extent Criss, absorbed Bird's teaching rather than cloning it. By 1967 he was very much his own man.
I was impressed when I heard Cedar Walton at Ronnie's in 2010 - 43 years after this recording - and I'm equally impressed here. Chambers is, as we'd come to expect by 1967, outstanding whether playing pizzicato or arco, soloing or supporting, along with Charles on drums they combine to provide a dream team for the horns to blow on.
This is bebop and beyond along with two beautiful ballad performances. Red tears at the heartstrings with Memories of You and Dorham stretches out on My One and Only Love.
The set opens with Dorham's compositional masterpiece Blue Bossa - is there a jazz musician in the world who hasn't jammed on that one?! Bird's Confirmation, the two ballads, Milt Jackson's Bag's Groove, Dorham's Blue Friday and the traditional set closer The Theme follow. Normally the latter number is washed and dried in the space of a couple of choruses. Not this time. This time it lasts 8 minutes plus with Charles having a lengthy workout.
Highly recommended, not just for the music but also for the glossy, readable, booklet which runs to 34 pages with photos, interviews with Dorham's family, Dan Morganstern, Eddie Henderson, Charles Tolliver and a map of the Bronx.
The CD runs for 73:33 minutes and is also available on deluxe double vinyl.
It's Napolean Brandy! Lance
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