Blue Bossa – Kenny Dorham
The Kenny Dorham classic—just as Kenny heard it. Did you know it was written around a bass line? Only jazzleadsheets.com has the lead sheet exactly as Kenny originally wrote it. Lead sheets and second parts available, and now with a Minus You bass line track.
- Recording: Joe Henderson - Page One
- Recorded on: June 3, 1963
- Label: Blue Note (BLP 4140)
- Concert Key: C minor
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Latin (Bossa)
- Trumpet - Kenny Dorham
- Tenor Sax - Joe Henderson
- Piano - McCoy Tyner
- Bass - Butch Warren
- Drums - Pete LaRoca
Video
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- J.J. Johnson, trombone; Ralph Moore, tenor sax; Renee Rosnes, piano, Rufus Reid, bass; Billy Drummond, drums. Umbria Jazz 1993
- Don Sickler, trumpet; Bobby Watson, alto sax; Shigeharu Mukai, trombone; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Don Pullen, piano; Cameron Brown, bass; Lewis Nash, drums. Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
The C treble clef lead sheet includes the bass line on a separate staff under both the melody and the shout chorus, so you can see how they fit together. The other editions (B♭, E♭, C bass clef and all second parts) have only the melody line and the chord changes with bass line rhythms shown under the staff. Bass players, as well as anyone else wanting to see the entire bass line, should get the C treble clef edition.
All of our editions also contain Kenny's shout chorus. The shout chorus is constructed around the same bass line.
Don Sickler recalls,"I had many wonderful conversations with Joe Henderson about Kenny Dorham. Joe and Kenny worked closely together for many years and made quite a few albums together.
"Joe said he was always inspired by Kenny's writing, especially how Kenny wrote for the rhythm section. K.D.'s concept of constructing a melody around a bass line was something that Joe took to heart and used in his own writing. Many aren't aware that the melody of Joe Henderson's "standard," Recorda Me, also on the "Page One" album, is written around a bass line. "
Joe's first recording session was two months earlier, for Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas" album. That album featured another Dorham title, Una Mas.
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell wrote and recorded a lyric to Blue Bossa, called It's No Time To Be Blue.
Many of trumpeter/composer Kenny Dorham's compositions contain specific parts for each member of the ensemble, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The lines interact with with the underlying harmonies and rhythms.
This composition is written around a bass line which is shown in the C treble clef lead sheet. For Kenny, the bass line was a very important part of the composition. The eight-measure introduction sets up the melody with four repetitions of the two-measure bass pattern.
Bass players should purchase the C treble clef (with Bass) lead sheet.
With this chord melody arrangement, you can perform this iconic Kenny Dorham tune on guitar. Each melody note is harmonized utilizing a wide range of voicings—basic minor sixth voicings, diminished passing chords, quartal voicings and more.
This is a great resource for intermediate guitarists looking to expand their harmonic vocabulary and develop their facility moving between chord shapes.
A version with tablature is available for guitarists less familiar with standard notation.
The standard notation version is available in two octaves.
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- Recording: Don Sickler - Further Explorations Vol. 1
- Recorded on: June 28, 2018
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1034)
- Concert Key: C minor
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Latin (Bossa)
- Trumpet - Don Sickler
- Bass - Jack Aylor
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
In my role as publisher, I always try to present the melody as the composer originally wrote it. I feel that's the best way to present the melody to a new musician. Notating Blue Bossa was therefore very simple for me to show Kenny's original melody, since his bass line dictates the rhythms of the melody.
As you can read in the Historical Notes for my own The Forgotten Line, Joe Henderson told me K.D. came up with an interesting idea when the two were discussing writing music for Joe's "Page One." project. Kenny suggested that each of them come up with an interesting bass line first, then create a composition over it. Not a bad idea! The result: each man created and recorded for the first time their jazz standards: Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa,, and Joe Henderson's Recorda-Me.
Bass alone track format:
-- intro (8 measures of bass)
-- play melody with pickup
-- repeat melody with 2nd ending to solos
-- solo for 4 choruses
-- play shout chorus with repeat
-- play out melody with repeat to coda
-- improvise over coda [ritard in the 6th measure into downbeat hold [7th measure]
Related Songs
Email Send Blue Bossa to a friend
![Kenny Dorham](https://jazzleadsheets.com/media/composer/image/d/o/dorhamkenny_rr_crop.jpg)
Kenny Dorham
August 30, 1924 – December 15, 1972
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. Read more...