1956 · Album
'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Volume I
Recorded 1956 · Blue Note · Produced by Alfred Lion
Dorham After Dark, No Frills
Dorham plays Monk's classic like he owns it, cool and unhurried at the Bohemia.
If you know Kenny Dorham at all, you probably know him as the guy who kept losing trumpet chairs to Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. That reputation undersells him badly. Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Volume I (1956) is a good corrective — a live date that catches Dorham in a relaxed, confident setting where he gets to lead instead of follow. The title is a nod to Thelonious Monk's 1943 composition, and Dorham's take on it is one of the better reasons to seek this record out. He doesn't try to reinvent the tune or show off. He just plays it straight and sly, which turns out to be exactly right.
The band is tight without being showy. Kenny Burrell on guitar gives the group a warmer, less urgent feel than you'd get from a piano-led quartet, and that suits Dorham's relaxed phrasing well. The Cafe Bohemia crowd isn't intrusive — you hear them but they don't distract — and the recording has that slightly rough, room-sound quality that live jazz from this era tends to have. It's not pristine, but it breathes.
This isn't an album you pull out to convince someone that jazz is worth caring about. It's one you play for someone who already listens and wants more Dorham, or wants to hear how a working band handled a Monk standard before Miles Davis made it famous on Kind of Blue (1959) — actually, before Miles made everything famous. Dorham's version reminds you that there was a whole world of serious players doing serious work outside the spotlight, and this record is a solid piece of evidence for that.
Who's playing
Sam Jonesdouble bass
Bobby Timmonspiano
Kenny Burrellguitar
J. R. Monterosetenor saxophone
Kenny Dorhamtrumpet
Arthur Edgehilldrums
Where next?
More by Kenny Dorham
All 31 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
