Kenny Dorham
August 30, 1924 – December 15, 1972
| Instrument | trumpet |
| Birthplace | Fairfield, TX |
Available Leadsheets
- Afrodisia - Kenny Dorham Latin (Samba)
- As I Live And Breathe - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- As I Live And Breathe (vocal) - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- Baby Sis - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Back Road - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Blue Bossa - Kenny Dorham Latin (Bossa)
- Blue Ching - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Blue Friday - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Blue Interlude - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Blue Lament - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- Blue Spring - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Blue Spring Shuffle - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Blues For Jackie - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Bombay - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Brown's Town - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Buffalo - Kenny Dorham Swing (shuffle - medium)
- Butch's Blues - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- D.C. Special - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Dead End - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Dorham's Epitaph / Extension - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- Echo Of Spring / K.D.'s Cab Ride - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- El Matador - Kenny Dorham 5/4 swing (medium up)
- Escapade - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Fair Weather - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- Fair Weather (vocal) - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- Fool's Fancy - Kenny Dorham & Bud Powell Swing (medium up)
- Fox - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- High Seas - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Hill's Edge - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Horn Salute - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- It's No Time To Be Blue - Kenny Burrell & Larry Jackstien & Kenny Dorham Latin (Samba)
- Jazz-Classic - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Jung Fu - Kenny Dorham Even 8ths/Swing (medium up)
- K.D.'s Blues - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- K.D.'s Motion - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Karioka - Kenny Dorham Swing/Latin (medium up)
- La Mesha - Kenny Dorham Ballad
- La Villa - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Lotus Blossom - Kenny Dorham Latin/swing (medium up)
- Lotus Flower - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium slow)
- Mexico City - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Minor's Holiday - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Monaco - Kenny Dorham Latin/swing (medium)
- N.Y. Theme - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Newport News - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Night Watch - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- No End - Kenny Dorham Latin (medium)
- None Shall Wander - Kenny Dorham Latin 12/8 (medium)
- Noose Bloos - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah - Kenny Dorham 3/4 Gospel (medium)
- Oscar for Oscar - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Passion Spring - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Pedro's Time - Kenny Dorham Latin/swing (medium)
- Philly Twist - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Poetic Spring - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Prince Albert - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Riffin' - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Sao Paulo - Kenny Dorham Latin (Funky)
- Sign Off - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Sky Blue - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Speculate - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Spring Cannon - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Stage West - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Straight Ahead - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- Strictly Confidential - Kenny Dorham & Bud Powell Swing (medium)
- Sunrise In Mexico - Kenny Dorham Latin (medium)
- Sunset - Kenny Dorham Latin (medium)
- There's No End - Kenny Dorham & Rachel Gould Latin (medium slow)
- Thin Man - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
- This Is Strictly Confidential - Kenny Dorham & Bud Powell & Lora Rosner Swing (medium)
- Tonica - Kenny Dorham Swing (slow)
- Trompeta Toccata - Kenny Dorham Latin 12/8 (medium)
- Una Mas - Kenny Dorham Latin (Mambo)
- Venita's Dance - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium)
- Waltz - Kenny Dorham 3/4 swing (medium up)
- Whistle Stop - Kenny Dorham Swing (uptempo)
- Windmill - Kenny Dorham Swing (medium up)
August 30, 2025, is Kenny Dorham's 101st birthday: jazzleadsheets.com has added many new K.D. compositions. Jazz At Lincoln Center has dedicated three late-night sets to Kenny's music, played with love by young musicians who want his music to live on. Join in, play K.D. music!
Trumpeter/composer Kenny Dorham was very much on the jazz scene from the mid-1940s through most of the 1960s. He worked and recorded with all the major figures in the modern jazz movement, which includes the legendary Billy Eckstine big band, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach as well as Kenny Clarke, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and many other giants of that period.
Dorham, known as K.D., continued in the '50s and '60s to play and record with the who's who of the hard bop era as well, developing important associations with Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson and so many more. Always kept in the highest regard by the musicians he worked with, Kenny never got the public attention that he deserved. Jackie McLean says it very well: "Kenny during his whole lifetime never got the accolades and never got the roses that he should have received for all that he gave us."
jazzleadsheets.com has a very special project featuring Kenny's music: The K.D. Challenge—check it out!
A personal note from Don Sickler: K.D. wasn't just a great individual trumpet stylist who developed his own sound and linear harmonic language (listen to Kenny's "turnbacks"—how he gets to the end of the harmonic progression—and you'll certainly know what I'm talking about). He was also a great composer and arranger who created new rhythm section textures, often giving each rhythm section player his own distinctive part. I can see that one of my long term goals is going to be fulfilled with jazzleadsheets.com: it's given me the opportunity to help you study Kenny Dorham's music in depth. Check out our progress so far, on "The K.D. Challenge."
Learn more about Kenny's life by reading Kahron Spearman's article in the Austin Chronicle.