The Complete 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia (Live) Kenny Dorham

• 1 K.D.'s Blues 10:44
• 2 Autumn In New York 04:47
• 3 Monaco 05:37
• 4 N.Y. Theme 05:39
• 5 K.D.'s Blues 09:29
• 6 Hill's Edge 08:17
• 7 A Night In Tunisia 09:34
• 8 Who Cares? (As Long As You Care For Me) 05:05
• 9 Royal Roost 08:39
• 10 Mexico City 05:59
• 11 'Round Midnight 07:48
• 12 Monaco 06:37
• 13 Who Cares? (As Long As You Care For Me) 06:20
• 14 My Heart Stood Still 07:50
• 15 Riffin' 07:46
• 16 Mexico City 06:30
• 17 The Prophet 06:19
• Total Runtime 02:03:00

Info for The Complete 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia (Live)

Not long from his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and their recorded blasts at the Cafe Bohemia, trumpeter Dorham gathered a tight group of young musicians to have his own go at the legendary Greenwich Village establishment. Dorham and guitarist Kenny Burrell would both go on to attain considerable success as leaders, while the others remained mostly in supporting roles, never becoming household names as leaders, even to jazz fans. Still, tenor saxophonist J.R. Monterose is a nice foil for the trumpeter, often following Dorham's bright, ballooning sound with a thinner, abrasive take—flowing where Dorham stutters ('Monaco,' 'Mexico City'), squeaking and giving space after the leader sprints ('Hill's Edge').

There's a nice, if unsurprising, flow to the program, with the bop burners cooled and dimmed by the interspersed ''Round About Midnight' and 'Autumn in New York,' the latter a solo vehicle for Dorham in which he captures a delicious, crisp moment of solitude within the Big Apple. 'Monaco,' a Dorham original, opens the record on a thick loping beat that showcases Sam Jones 'fat, insistent bass work, which accounts for much of the record's full cloud of sound. (Eat your heart out, Phil Spector.) Dorham enters on extended phrases, but soon picks up the pace and begins punching out fast but articulated lines—the type of well-constructed progression for which he'd become known. Burrell channels Charlie Christian on his opening-track solo, but later shows sparks of his developing individual voice, most notably on 'Mexico City' and 'A Night in Tunisia.'

Drummer Arthur Edgehill rarely steps out of his supporting role, though the flurry of his sticks is in evidence throughout 'Mexico City'; his cow bell pronounced on 'Tunisia'; and he's obviously given room to stretch on the Dorham-penned nod to the drummer, 'Hill's Edge.' Pianist Bobby Timmons

solos on most tunes, but he often makes more of a statement when fashioning blunt chordal motifs beneath the horns or emerging, as in 'Mexico City,' to walk in thrilling harmonic step with Dorham.

'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia is a full and often exhilarating set of mid-'50s bop. It also proves, in the three Dorham originals, that the trumpeter was a quality composer, capable of rendering more than just Latin-tinged themes like 'Blue Bossa' and 'Una Mas.' And the excellent fidelity of this vinyl reissue boosts the session's composed but inventive ambience.“ (Matt Marshall, AllAboutJazz)

Kenny Dorham, trumpet
J. R. Monterose, tenor saxophone (on tracks 1, 3-7, 9-12 & 14-17)
Bobby Timmons, piano
Kenny Burrell, guitar (on tracks 5-7, 9, 10 & 12-17)
Sam Jones, bass
Arthur Edgehill, drums

Recorded live at the Cafe Bohemia, New York City on May 31, 1956
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder
Produced by Alfred Lion

Digitally remastered

Kenny Dorham
Throughout his career, Kenny Dorham was almost famous for being underrated since he was consistently overshadowed by Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan. Dorham was never an influential force himself but a talented bop-oriented trumpeter and an excellent composer who played in some very significant bands. In 1945, he was in the orchestras of Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine, he recorded with the Be Bop Boys in 1946, and spent short periods with Lionel Hampton and Mercer Ellington. During 1948-1949, Dorham was the trumpeter in the Charlie Parker Quintet. After some freelancing in New York in 1954, he became a member of the first version of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and for a short time led a group called the Jazz Prophets, which recorded on Blue Note. After Clifford Brown's death, Dorham became his replacement in the Max Roach Quintet (1956-1958) and then he led several groups of his own. He recorded several fine dates for Riverside (including a vocal album in 1958), New Jazz, and Time, but it is his Blue Note sessions of 1961-1964 that are among his finest. Dorham was an early booster of Joe Henderson (who played with his group in 1963-1964). After the mid-'60s, Kenny Dorham (who wrote some interesting reviews for Down Beat) began to fade and he died in 1972 of kidney disease. Among his many originals is one that became a standard, "Blue Bossa." (Scott Yanow). Source: Blue Note Records.

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