1951 · Album
Modern Jazz Trumpets
Recorded Late 1940s–1950 · Prestige Records · Produced by Bob Weinstock
Four Trumpets, One Snapshot, No Filler
Four bebop trumpeters on one record — this is a time capsule, not a competition.
Released by Prestige Records in 1951, Modern Jazz Trumpets (1951) is exactly what it sounds like: a 10-inch LP pulling together tracks from four of the sharpest bebop trumpet voices of the era — Fats Navarro, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Kenny Dorham. It's a compilation rather than a unified session, which means you shouldn't expect it to flow like a single album with a mood. What you get instead is a useful side-by-side of where the trumpet was in the late 1940s and just how different four players could sound on the same instrument in the same moment in jazz history.
For Dorham specifically, this is one early document of a player who often got overshadowed by the other three names on this cover. That's a shame, because Dorham had a warm, slightly muted tone and a thoughtful approach to bebop phrasing that sets him apart from Gillespie's fireworks or Navarro's round power. He's the quieter argument on a record full of loud ones. Davis fans will also note that this album contains his first recordings for Prestige, which makes it genuinely significant for anyone tracing how that relationship developed over the following decade.
Navarro, who died in 1950, appears here essentially as a recent ghost — his included tracks carry extra weight knowing that. Gillespie sounds like Gillespie: busy, brilliant, slightly impossible. If you're new to bebop trumpet, this album works as a decent primer. If you already know these players, it's more interesting as a historical document than as a listening experience you'd return to weekly. Worth owning, worth hearing, but don't go in expecting a seamless record — it's a sampler, and a good one.
Who's playing
Ray Browndouble bass
James Johnsondouble bass
Al Haigpiano
Linton Garnerpiano
Lucky Thompsontenor saxophone
Don Lanpheretenor saxophone
Dizzy Gillespietrumpet
Fats Navarrotrumpet
Stan Leveydrums
Max Roachdrums
Milt Jacksonvibraphone
Where next?
More by Kenny Dorham
All 31 albums →
The musicians on this record
♫
Django 1959
Milt Jackson
plays vibraphone here
plays vibraphone here
We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite 1961
Max Roach
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
This One's for Blanton! 1975
Ray Brown
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
Afro 1954
Dizzy Gillespie
plays trumpet here
plays trumpet here
