DORHAM DATE BLUE BOSSA IN THE BRONX: LIVE FROM THE BLUE MOROCCO BOWS AS TWO-LP SET FROM RESONANCE RECORDS

 PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED KENNY DORHAM DATE BLUE BOSSA IN THE BRONX: LIVE FROM THE BLUE MOROCCO BOWS AS TWO-LP SET FROM RESONANCE RECORDS

ON RECORD STORE DAY APRIL 12, 2025

Deluxe Package Includes Notes by Grammy Winner Bob Blumenthal, An Appreciation by Dan Morgenstern, Observations from Fellow Trumpeters Charles Tolliver, Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein, and Jeremy Pelt, and More

Limited April 12 Vinyl Release Will Be Succeeded by Deluxe CD Edition on April 18

 

Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, a never-before-heard live performance from master hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, will be released as a two-LP set by Resonance Records for Record Store Day (April 12, 2025).

The collection has been transferred from the original tape reels, mastered by Fran Gala at Resonance Records Studio, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at 33-1/3 rpm at Le Vinylist as a limited-edition package.

 

The storming all-star club date will be issued as a deluxe CD on April 18.

 

Both LP and CD editions include notes by two-time Grammy winner Bob Blumenthal; a Dorham appreciation by Dan Morgenstern, the late director of Rutgers University’s Institute of Jazz Studies and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master; remembrances from trumpeters Eddie Henderson, Charles Tolliver, Steven Bernstein, and Jeremy Pelt; and more.

 

The collection was recorded by Bernard Drayton in 1967 at the titular New York venue, a local bar at Boston Road and 168th Street that was operated by Sylvia Robinson (previously in the hit-making duo Mickey and Sylvia) and her husband Joe; the couple went on to found the groundbreaking rap label Sugar Hill Records.

Blue Bossa in the Bronx features a hard-hitting band comprising alto saxophonist Sonny Red, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Denis Charles. It leads off with Dorham’s best-known composition, “Blue Bossa,” first heard on Page One, tenor saxophonist and longtime bandmate Joe Henderson’s 1963 debut as a leader. The repertoire also includes an untitled blues by Dorham, numbers originated by Charlie Parker, Milt Jackson, and Miles Davis, and the standards “Memories of You” and “My One and Only Love.”

 

The award-winning producer and Resonance co-president Zev Feldman says of his latest archival find, “As I write this in 2024, the jazz world is marking the centenary of Kenny Dorham’s birth. I hope this recording will further cement his stature as a major figure during an important period in the development of modern jazz.”

 

In his notes, Blumenthal eloquently measures Dorham’s towering stature in jazz history, situating him among the music’s greats: “Underrated. Deserving of wider recognition. Musicians' musician. In Art Blakey's memorable phrase, ‘the uncrowned king.’ These were the labels that Kenny Dorham carried throughout his career and that continue to linger over his legacy. A vital presence in jazz for over a quarter century and a valued collaborator with most of the period's creative forces, he never won a poll or acquired enough star power to sustain a working band or become a commercial draw.

“Part of the problem,” he continues, “was Dorham's fate to succeed more charismatic figures in historic groups. He followed both Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro, whom he considered ‘the two most outstanding trumpet players in jazz history, if not trumpet history,’ when he became the featured soloist in Billy Eckstine's orchestra. He became Charlie Parker's front-line partner after Miles Davis left. He succeeded Clifford Brown, whom he characterized as ‘the youngest player in trumpet history to achieve musical maturity,’ not once but twice — first in the Art Blakey/Horace Silver unit that became the Jazz Messengers and then, after Brown's death, in the Max Roach band.”

Kenny Dorham. © Raymond Ross Archives / CTSIMAGES

In one of the last interviews he gave before his death at 94 in September 2024, Morgenstern said, “Kenny’s legacy is in his recordings. And there’s a lot of great stuff. I think there are very few recordings by Kenny that are not worth listening to. And he was a good partner on the front line. He was a good partner to his saxophonists. He was different from many of the musicians who were contemporary with him, trumpet players. He was more thoughtful and he was more melodic. And he had a great sound. I was very fond of him. To sum it up, Kenny was one of my favorite modern trumpeters.”
 
A chorus of great trumpeters testify to Dorham’s enduring influence.
 

“From hearing Kenny's first note, I realized that he had a very distinctive sound, to say nothing of the melodic flow he had,” Henderson says. "It was so lyrical. His sound stood out from all the other trumpet players. Each of my heroes — Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, they all had the sound, but Kenny could hit just one note, bingo — you knew it was him. Miles Davis had his sound, but Kenny was one of the heavyweights of that generation.”
 
Tolliver recalls, “Having broken in in 1964, by 1967 I had met and/or played with all the supporting participants of KD on these recordings.  Birks, of course, sits at the throne, but KD was also one of my trumpet heroes in my youth. Though somewhat coming out of Birks/Fats, KD crafted and possessed a style and delivery inimitable to all other trumpeters before or after — tone, attack, theory, execution, ‘turnarounds.’”

“The thing about Kenny Dorham,” says Bernstein, “is that you could tell it was him in one note. And that’s hard to do on the trumpet. The trumpet’s a difficult instrument to play in general. People of Kenny Dorham's era and before played in big bands, so you had to be able to blend with other big-band players. You were required to have a certain kind of sound that matched the big band. Kenny was one of the first guys who had a sound not like that. His sound was so unique that you could hear one note and you knew, ‘Well, that’s Kenny Dorham.’ He also had what people used to call turnbacks; they call them turnarounds now. Turnarounds are a way to get from one chord to another chord and Kenny had a really singular way of doing turnarounds.”

Pelt enthuses, “Kenny Dorham had an obvious knack for melody. He displayed a keen melodic focus in his playing, which was also quite lyrical. His harmonic sense was what we call slick. He was playing inside of the harmony. It's a distinctive thing with Kenny — the way he plays inside the chord. I don't mean slick in a bad way. It's slick in like wow!”

Recordist Drayton says of the special qualities of his newly unearthed tapes, “When this show was recorded, Kenny was so highly regarded among musicians that even though he didn't have a regular band, he was always able to get the best musicians available to play with him. The performances that night were right there. The vibe was just one of those KD vibes. For a guy who wasn't able to play on a regular basis owing to his health issues, he was on fire and so was the band. As I said, it was a dream fulfilled for me.”
 
 
Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning label (most recently for John Coltrane’s Offering: Live at Temple University for "Best Album Notes") that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance's catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. Current Resonance Artists include Tawanda, Eddie Daniels, Tamir Hendelman, Christian Howes and Donald Vega. www.ResonanceRecords.org