![]() Besides the warmth and abundant humor, there's an unmistakable tenderness and vulnerability in Dorham's playing that not only touches a deep emotional core but more often than not sets off the luminous triumph of each of his poignant creations. He let the music come to him, using his smallish yet centered, round sound to deconstruct and then reconstruct its most essential phrases into gemlike solos. ![]() He eschewed the passionate romanticism of Clifford Brown, the dramatic flare of Lee Morgan, and the brassy virtuosity of Freddie Hubbard in favor of unfailing melodic logic and economical lyricism, lightened by a frequently playful, puckish approach. Kenny Dorham was the thinking person's trumpet player. ![]() Moreover, when you review even Dorham's more publicized credentials≼harlie Parker's preferred front-line partner 1948-50, trumpeter on the seminal Horace Silver session ( And the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note, 1954) that introduced "The Preacher" and the "hard bop" movement, composer of "Blue Bossa" and the ubiquitous intermission "Theme"the more's the wonder his name rarely comes up in discussions of the giants. Possibly so, if Art Blakey's anointing of Dorham as the "uncrowned trumpet king" is to be taken seriously. Is it possible for a musician who has achieved widespread fame for non-recognition to remain "deserving" of the description? The critic Gary Giddins once wrote that Kenny Dorham's name is "virtually synonymous with 'underrated'." Which raises a question.
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