BLUES IN BEBOP:
THE COMPOSITE JAZZ VOCABULARY OF KENNY DORHAM
With musical roots in the blues of his Texas birthplace as well as immersion in bebop during the
emergence of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham’s musical vocabulary defines the origins
of modern jazz. Through transcriptions and analyses of representative compositions and improvised
solos as well as accompanying performances, this lecture recital will explore the various facets of
Dorham’s language with an emphasis on the role of the blues and the manner in which he retained core
identifying features despite widely disparate contexts during jazz’s transitional period of the 1950s and
1960s.
Lecture Recital Presented by
BARRY LONG
Candidate for the Degree
Doctor of Musical Arts
Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media (Trumpet)
with
Matt Stuver, tenor saxophone
Jeremy Siskind, piano
Ryan Kotler, bass
Charlie Dye, drums
May 3, 2006
3:30 PM
Howard Hanson Hall
Special thanks to Profs. Clay Jenkins, Jeff Campbell,
and the faculty of the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Department.
Biographical Sketch
“If you keep on living, you have to keep on growing. That is, if you keep your feelings and ears open.”
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born McKinley Howard Dorham on August 30, 1924 on Post Oak Ranch near Fairfield, TX
“There was a lot of the wide open Southwest in Kenny’s trumpet” (Gardner)
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heard his parents play the blues on piano and guitar; sister plays piano and sings spirituals
exposed to Blind Lemon Jefferson, other blues musicians
other early influences include holiness-sanctified, Baptist, and Methodist churches
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began piano studies at age 7, trumpet at age 15
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attended Wiley College, majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Physics
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wrote first chart, ‘Stardust’, for Wiley’s Band
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Wild Bill Davis in the band, would lead it the following year, encouraged KD’s writing
“Whatever music I picked up was through being inquisitive.” (Liner notes to Whistle Stop)
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served in the Army from 1942-3; was on boxing team
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worked with Russell Jacquet (Illinois Jacquet’s older brother) in Houston in 1943
performs in early 1944 with Frank Humphries band
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writes “Okay for Baby” for Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter; “Malibu” for Cootie Williams
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charts published under the name of Walter ‘Gil’ Fuller and sold to Harry James,
Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Shorty Sherock, Tommy Burns, Broadway Roseland and
Danceland Orchestras
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moved to New York City in July 1944, attends jam sessions at Minton’s Playhouse
“After I got out of the army, I learned all of Charlie Parker’s solos by heart, and then I went looking for
someone to hear. I went out to California just to see if I could duplicate what I had been hearing.
I felt I couldn’t learn from the guys out there, so I came to New York.” (Dorham)
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worked with Dizzy Gillespie’s first big band in Spring, 1945; again later, also as blues singer
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Dizzy’s trumpet section also includes Miles Davis, Freddie Webster, and Fats Navarro
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joins Billy Eckstine Orchestra in December 1945-early January 1946
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composed bop theme Dead End
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first solo was a four bar break on Love Me or Leave Me
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first recorded solo on The Jitney Man
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two recording dates with all-star Kenny Clarke’s Bebop Boys in August, 1946
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one of 17 Messengers with Art Blakey in 1948
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first composition recorded, The Thin Man by Blakey in 1947
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Lionel Hampton in 1947; Mercer Ellington in 1946-7, 1948
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replaced Miles Davis in Charlie Parker’s Quintet on December 23, 1948, staying for almost a year
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studied at the Gotham School of Music under the GI Bill
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recorded with Thelonious Monk in 1952
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first recording as leader in late 1953: 10 inch on Debut Records titled The Kenny Dorham Quintet
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original member of Jazz Messengers in 1953-4
Dorham “shows conclusively for the first time he is more than just an accomplished and professional
soloist. He focuses on the theme and develops it in a melodic interpretation which extends, refashions,
and toughens the line into a musical entity obviously related to the original, but goes far beyond it in
scope and meaning.” (Texas Jazz)
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leaves the Jazz Messengers to form the Jazz Prophets in 1955
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replaced Clifford Brown in Max Roach Quintet, 1956-58
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taught at the Lenox School of Jazz (1958-9)
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described as “one of the best things that ever happened to me”
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primarily a leader after 1958, recording for Riverside, New Jazz, Time, and Blue Note
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organizes rehearsal band in 1959-60 that meets at places like Brooklyn’s Putnam Central and
Manhattan’s Ames Studio on Sunday afternoons
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would reorganize in 1967 with Joe Henderson
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toured Rio de Janeiro with an all-star group in January of 1961
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21 day tour of 4 South American countries in July of 1961 as member of Monte Kay’s
First American Jazz Festival
“an exciting, wild, new, unforgettable experience” and “shattered” by the music he heard (Dorham)
Dorham recalling something said by Fats Navarro in his youth:
“”Kenny, I’d really like to hear you when you straighten out your style.” It began when I got out from under
Bird’s shadow, as important as Bird was for me. And it’s been going on ever since. There’s more and
more I feel I can do. And these days it strikes me the sky’s the limit.” (Dorham)
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helped to discover Joe Henderson, made co-leader of his quintet in 1962
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Joe Henderson becomes Blue Note artist as a result of Una Mas sessions
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made six albums together (3 under Henderson, 2 under Dorham, 1 with Andrew Hill)
“Kenny I consider the most underrated player in the business. His problem is that he’s so nice, and
people seem to associate greatness with meanness or bitterness. In this business, you have to create
some kind of angry or tough image of yourself to be accepted. He told me he liked this date so much
because it made him think and play in new directions and in the process he proved again how musical
and flexible a trumpet player he is.” (Andrew Hill in the liner notes to his ‘Point of Departure’)
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Dorham’s Epitaph from ‘Trompeta Toccata’ (1964) expanded for 60-70 (40 are strings), renamed
“Fairy Tale”, and given to Gunther Schuller in hopes of presenting to Leonard Bernstein
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did not record as a leader after 1964
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worked towards a Masters in Music at NYU School of Music
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taught on the Jazzmobile in Harlem
served as a musical consultant for the Harlem Youth Act anti-poverty program in New York
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died on December 5, 1972 of kidney disease at age 48
Musical Examples
1. Melodic Characteristics
a. repetition of a given pitch, with origins in fundamental blues riffs
Ex. 1a.1: Blue Spring Shuffle from ‘Quiet Kenny’, 3rd Chorus, mm. 5-9 (1959)
Ex. 1a.2: Recorda Me from ‘Page One’, mm. 33-37 (1963)
Ex. 1a.3: Punjab from ‘In ‘n Out’, mm. 37-42 (1964)
Ex 1a.4: Short Stuff from ‘Cedar’, mm. 1-18 (1967)
Other examples include Lonesome Lover Blues from ‘The Kenny Dorham Quintet’ (1953), I’ll Remember
April from ‘Jazz Contrasts’ (1957), and Smile from El Matador’ (1962).
b. octave leaps, often slurred or through glissando
Ex. 1b.1: Short Stuff from ‘Cedar’, see mm. 12-18 in above example (1967)
Ex. 1b.2: Short Story from ‘In ‘n Out’, mm. 37-40 (1964)
Ex. 1b.3: Punjab from ‘In ‘n Out’, mm. 22-28 (1964)
Ex. 1b.4: Punjab from ‘In ‘n Out’, mm. 43-46 (1964)
Other examples include Windmill and Philly Twist from ‘Whistle Stop’ (1961), Delirium from Tadd
Dameron’s ‘Fontainbleau’ (1956), and Sign Off from ‘Jazz Contemporary’ (1960).
c. quotation of the melody at the end of the form, primarily in the last or next to last chorus
Ex. 1c.1: I Had the Craziest Dream from ‘Quiet Kenny’, mm.69-73 (1959)
Ex. 1c.2: Straight Ahead from ‘Una Mas’, mm. 153-160 (1963)
Other examples include I Waited for You from ‘The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volume 2’
(1955), Just Friends from John Coltrane’s ‘Coltrane Time’ (1959), Lotus Flower from ‘Quiet Kenny’ (1959),
and The Fox from ‘Trompeta Toccata’ (1964).
General melodic tendencies include:
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Phrase lengths tend to adhere to the form of the composition with relatively few phrases
extending beyond a chorus or given formal area
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Improvised solos on original compositions frequently begin with melodic quotation
(See Poetic Spring from ‘Quiet Kenny’ (1959), Una Mas from ‘Una Mas’ (1963), and Blue Bossa
and La Mesha from Joe Henderson’s ‘Page One’ (1963))
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Solos on ballads are often multiple choruses of predominantly embellishment of the melody.
(See Ruby, My Dear and Darn that Dream from ‘The Kenny Dorham Quintet’ (1953), Alone
Together from ‘Quiet Kenny’ (1959), Monk’s Mood from ‘Jazz Contemporary (1960), and La
Mesha from Joe Henderson’s ‘Page One’ (1963))
2. Rhythmic Characteristics
a. syncopated figures in the trumpet’s upper register
Ex. 2a.1: Short Story from ‘In ‘n Out’, mm. 41-43 (1964)
Ex. 2a.2: Royal Roost from ‘Round about Midnight at the Café Bohemia’, mm. 25-27 (1956)
Other examples include Fool’s Fancy from ‘Blues in Bebop’ (1946), Conglomeration from Milt Jackson’s
‘Roll ‘Em Bags’ (1949), Scrapple from the Apple from Charlie Parker’s ‘Bird at the Roost, Vol. 2’ (1949),
Minor’s Holiday from ‘Afro-Cuban’ (1955), and Teeter Totter from Joe Henderson’s ‘Our Thing’ (1963).
b. continuous sixteenth note activity featuring accented downbeats, primarily during the mid to late 1950s
with Art Blakey and recordings as a leader and sideman on the Prestige and Riverside labels.
Ex. 2b.1: Prince Albert from ‘The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volume 1’, mm. 9-15 (1955)
Ex. 2b.2: Like Someone in Love from ‘The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volume 2’, mm. 11-25
(1955)
Other examples include Solid from Sonny Rollins’ ‘Movin’ Out’ (1954), The Boys from Brooklyn from
Matthew Gee’s ‘Jazz by Gee’ (1956), The Stanley Stomper from Phil Woods’ ‘Pairing Off’ (1956), and La
Villa from ‘Jazz Contrasts’ (1957).
c. frequent use of a repetitive descending figure comprised of an eighth note followed by two sixteenths
primarily during double time passages
Ex. 2c.1: Like Someone in Love from ‘The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volume 2’, see
measures 9-12 in the example above. (1955)
Ex. 2c.2: Like Someone in Love, mm. 50-52 (1955)
Other examples include I’ll Remember April from ‘Jazz Contrasts’ (1957), I Should Care from Hank
Mobley’s ‘Second Message’ (1956), and Mexico City from ‘Round about Midnight at the Café Bohemia’
(1956).
General rhythmic tendencies include:
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rhythmic elasticity; ease of flexibility among rhythmic values
(See I Love You from ‘The Kenny Dorham Quintet’ (1953), Afrodesia from ‘Afro-Cuban’ (1955),
and In Your Own Sweet Way from ‘Jazz Contemporary’ (1960))
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use of straight eighth notes in a swing context
(See Venita’s Dance from ‘Afro-Cuban’ (1955), Out of the Past from Benny Golson’s ‘Modern
Touch’ (1957), Poetic Spring from ‘Blue Spring’ (1959), Night Watch from ‘Trompeta Toccata’
(1964), and Refuge from Andrew Hill’s ‘Point of Departure’ (1964))
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use of swing eighths in a Latin context
(See El Matador from ‘Matador’ (1962), Una Mas and Sao Paolo from ‘Una Mas’ (1963), and
Pedro’s Time from Joe Henderson’s ‘Our Thing’ (1963))
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swing eighths of which the first note is staccato, masking the swing feel
(See Mack the Knife from ‘Quiet Kenny’ (1959), A Waltz from ‘Jazz Contemporary’ (1960), and
Whistle Stop and Sunrise in Mexico from ‘Whistle Stop’ (1961))
3. Harmonic Characteristics
a. chromatic encircling of chord tones or target pitches, with origins in bebop vocabulary
Ex. 3a.1: Room 608 from ‘Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers’, mm. 57-60 (1954)
Ex. 3a.2: Hankerin’ from ‘Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers’, mm. 47-51 (1964)
Other examples include Bringing Up Father from Cecil Payne’s ‘Patterns of Jazz’ (1956), ‘Sposin and Is It
True What They Say About Dixie from ‘2 Horns, 2 Rhythm’ (1957), and Windmill from ‘Whistle Stop’
(1961).
b. approaching chord changes from a half step above (tritone substitution)
Ex. 3b.1: Like Someone in Love from ‘Coltrane Time’, mm. 5-9 (also occurs in m. 56) (1959)
Ex. 3b.2: Straight Ahead from ‘Una Mas’, mm. 17-24 (1963)
(original rhythm changes composition includes tritone substitutions on the bridge)
Other examples include Room 608 from ‘Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers’ (1954), Noose Bloos
from ‘2 Horns/Rhythm’ (1957), Spring is Here from ‘Blue Spring’ (1959), and Night Watch from ‘Trompeta
Toccata’ (1964).
General harmonic tendencies include:
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frequent avoidance of the tonic at points of resolution in blues contexts
(See Okay Blues from Harold Land’s ‘Eastward Ho!’ (1960) and Out of the Night from Joe
Henderson’s ‘Page One’ (1963))
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simpler, motivic improvisation in static harmonic contexts (pedal or modal)
(See Message from the Border from Hank Mobley’s ‘Second Message’ (1956), Ostinato from
Oliver Nelson’s ‘Meet Oliver Nelson’ (1959), Sunset from ‘Whistle Stop’ (1961), and Melanie from
‘Matador’ (1962))
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blues vocabulary accompanies above examples of swing eighths in Latin contexts
Bibliography
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_. ‘Liner notes to The Complete ‘Round About Midnight at the Café Bohemia’. Blue Note, 2001.
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_. ‘Liner notes to Afro-Cuban’. Blue Note, 1955
_. ‘Liner notes to The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volumes 1 and 2’. Blue Note, 1955.
_. ‘Liner notes to Our Thing’. Blue Note, 1963.
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_. ‘Liner notes to Whistle Stop’. Blue Note, 1961.
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