Kenny Dorham Eight Classic Albums (4-CD)

Real Gone Jazz continues its box set catalog series with this fine Kenny Dorham volume. This four-disc collection contains eight full-length Dorham recordings cut between 1953-1960 for Debut, Blue Note, Riverside, and other labels. The set kicks off with Dorham's initial offering as a leader, The Kenny Dorham Quintet for Debut in 1953, and Afro-Cuban for Blue Note from 1955. The second disc contains 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia (also for Blue Note) circa 1956, and 2 Horns/2 Rhythm for Riverside in 1957. The third disc contains two more Riverside dates, Jazz Contrasts from 1957 and Blue Spring from 1959. Disc four begins in 1959 with the ballad collection Quiet Kenny on New Jazz and ends with a lesser-known 1960 date for the Time imprint entitled Jazz Contemporary. These four discs contain remastered versions of the original albums and some bonus material from their individual reissues. Taken as a whole, this set offers solid proof of Dorham's many gifts as composer, arranger, and bandleader, though he was often overlooked at the time. ~ Thom Jurek