Dorham in the Middle Years, Still Finding His Voice
Brief but generous with memorable selections, a snapshot of Dorham at a productive moment in his career.
By 1957, Kenny Dorham had already established himself as a reliable voice in modern jazz — early experience in bebop, time with the big bands, respected sideman work — but he was not yet the figure people automatically turned to when thinking about the trumpet. Jazz Contrasts sits right in that middle period, after his initial prominence had settled but before any single recording would define him for listeners. It's a working album, the kind a skilled musician makes in the middle of his life when he's still learning what his sound should be.
The session clocks in just over forty minutes, which Scott Yanow from AllMusic noted was brief but packed with material worth hearing. There's no filler here — Dorham and his group move through these selections with the efficiency of players who knew what they wanted to say and said it cleanly. The Penguin Guide gave it three stars, which is solid recognition without fanfare. You're not looking at a masterpiece that changed jazz history or a peak moment Dorham would spend the rest of his career trying to recapture. Instead, this is a record that shows a musician working at his craft in real time, making choices about tempo and tone and arrangement that feel earned rather than showy.
Jazz Contrasts isn't the place to start with Dorham, and it's not the album that locked in his legacy. It's the kind of record jazz collectors find and appreciate for exactly what it is — a straightforward, well-executed session that documents a working trumpeter in his element, neither reaching for something beyond his grasp nor phoning it in.
Who's playing
Oscar Pettiforddouble bass
Hank Jonespiano
Sonny Rollinstenor saxophone
Kenny Dorhamtrumpet
Max Roachdrums
Betty Glamannharp
Where next?
More by Kenny Dorham
All 31 albums →
The musicians on this record
Way Out West 1957
Sonny Rollins
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
Deeds, Not Words 1958
Max Roach
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
Montmartre Blues 1959
Oscar Pettiford
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
♫
The Trio with Guests 1956
Hank Jones
plays piano here
plays piano here
