Kenny Dorham’s Distinctive Blue Bossa in the Bronx

Jazz Album Review: Kenny Dorham’s Distinctive “Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco”

By Michael Ullman

Blue Bossa in the Bronx brings us into a jazz club on a good night. It’s unlike any other Kenny Dorham session, which makes it valuable indeed.

Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco (Resonance, two LPs)

Trumpeter Kenny Dorham has been called under-rated so many times that it turned into something of a joke, at least among my hip friends. He was never really forgotten. He was one of the original beboppers when that kind of modernism was at its most prestigious. A reissue on disc of his early (1946-56) Savoy recordings was titled Blues in Bebop: it contains Dorham soloing in a tune by Billy Eckstine and his revolutionary big band, and then with Bud Powell on nine numbers by a group called The Be-Bop Boys. One of their pieces was Dorham’s “Blues in Bebop”. Dorham was a member of Charlie Parker’s quintet for several years: they recorded “Scrapple from the Apple”, “Barbados”, and “Bebop”. He sounds unintimidated while trading fours with Parker on “Scrapple from the Apple”. Playing with Parker was a trial by fire: he passed the test.

1949 was a banner year for the young trumpeter, who was born in 1924. He recorded with J.J. Johnson’s influential group as well as with drummer Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey. Three years later, he was the trumpeter on the Thelonious Monk Blue Note date that recorded “Skippy” and “Let’s Cool One”. It must not have been easy: the take of “Let’s Cool One” that was released was their eleventh try. Dorham has the first solo and he sounds relaxed; at times, even gentle. In the middle ’50s his music took a slight shift after he became a member of Art Blakey’s hard-bopping Jazz Messengers. He also was in the Horace Silver session that made “Doodlin’” and with Sonny Rollins was a side man on Max Roach Plus Four. Dorham made my favorite album of his, Quiet Kenny, in 1959.

By 1967, when Blue Bossa in the Bronx was made, Dorham was an established star, famous (enough) after his Blue Note records, which included Whistle Stop, Una Mas, Trumpeta Toccata, and Page One. Oddly enough, one piece he didn’t record under his own name was his hit composition, “Blue Bossa”. On June 3, 1963 with Dorham as a sideman, Joe Henderson recorded what the trumpeter may have thought was the definitive version of “Blue Bossa”: it was issued on Henderson’s Page One. The presence of “Blue Bossa” is one of many reasons to celebrate the release of Blue Bossa in the Bronx, recorded in sufficiently vivid sound in front of a polite audience. It features Sonny Red on alto saxophone. (Red’s original name was Sylvester Kyner, which I assume he felt was a curse when he was in junior high school.) Cedar Walton is the pianist, Paul Chambers is the bassist. Chambers had recorded with almost everybody, and he was a part of the famous Miles Davis quintet that made Kind of Blue. Denis Charles, who began his recording career with Cecil Taylor, is the drummer.

Everyone gets to stretch out in a way that their studio recordings would not allow. The set contains long versions of such jazz classics as Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation”, Milt Jackson’s “Bag’s Groove”, and Miles Davis’ “The Theme”, as well as 13 minutes versions of Dorham’s “Blue Friday” and, of course, “Blue Bossa”.

Dorham proves to be a generous leader. “Memories of You” is given over totally to Sonny Red. It’s introduced with a rather grand chorus by Cedar Walton. Red enters late (one of the joys of live dates is their occasional haphazardness.) With Denis Charles chattering away on his snare, Red takes the first solo on “Bag’s Groove”. At his best, he is a bebopper who borrows from more remote harmonies — and dwells on more widely spaced notes — than did Parker. On “Bag’s Groove” he quotes “Mop Mop”, which triggers Charles to add in some prominent cymbal. Dorham enters after five minutes. He sounds thoughtful. Walton follows, he too sounding a bit careful in his early choruses. We get to hear him work his way into the solo: he’s pushed a little by Chambers, who is so good that I sometimes find myself following the bass line in the seven pieces here. He solos on “Bag’s Groove”, but what’s especially welcome is Chamber’s mostly bowed solo on the upbeat “Confirmation”. In his solo on the Parker classic, Dorham plays long runs as well as shorter, more pointed phrases. He’s not averse to showing off his command of the trumpet. The leader’s “Blue Bossa” would be a highlight on any Dorham album. The trumpeter begins his solo with a two-note phrase that in itself generates the kind of infectious cheer the piece is all about. Blue Bossa brings us into a jazz club on a good night. It’s unlike any other Kenny Dorham session, which makes it valuable indeed.

from https://artsfuse.org