Kenny Dorham 1924年出生于德州， 40年代前往纽约，活跃于Dizzy Gillespie，Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton和Mercer Ellington等乐团， 并因为他安静低调的小号吹奏风格获得了“Quiet Kenny”的称号， 1948年年之后的3年间他取代了迈尔斯戴维斯成为了查理帕克的小号手。进入50年代，在和Thelonious Monk的合作之后，Kenny Dorham和Art Blakey, Horace Silver共同组建了传奇的爵士使者，随后在克利福德布朗车祸不幸之后，取代了他和Max Roach共同领导的乐团的位置。 50年代末和整个60年代，是Kenny Dorham的黄金时候。特别是和Joe Henderson，Hank Mobley等乐手的合作，在Blue Note下录制了一系列包括下面要介绍的Whistle Stop在内的经典硬波谱唱片。 60年代末，他成为Downbeat杂志一名富思想性的乐评家。不幸的是， 1972年12月死于肾病，年仅38岁Kenny Dorham作为一名顶尖的波谱小号手和非凡的爵士乐作曲家，是上个世纪最值得怀念的爵士音乐家之一，在这里并不是因为他的薄命值得同情和缅怀而进入了我的波谱梦幻阵容，而是因为他的音乐相比较Miles的冷酷，Art Farmer的温暖以及Lee Morgan的理性，身为乐手，乐团领导和编排者和伟大的作曲家，Kenny Dorham简洁低调的抒情叙事的波谱风格为人们所偏爱。
by Scott Yanow
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 Blakeys Jazz Messengers and for a short time led a group called the Jazz Prophets, which recorded on Blue Note. After Clifford Browns 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.