Music Monday: two centenaries and a birthday

Over the next few years, we’ll celebrate quite a few centennials as many of the great jazz artists from the 1950s and 1960s were born in the second half of the 1920s. This year for example, saw the Max Roach and Kenny Dorham centennial.

I’ve blogged a bit about Max Roach, but much less about Kenny Dorham, which I suspect speaks more about how musical tastes have changed than his career. Dorham’s strong association with BeBop and Hard Bop than modal or post-bop jazz has perhaps left him  contributions Dorham was a remarkable trumpeter and his albums as band leader are all a joy. I’ve mentioned Una Mas before (which is celebrating its 60th birthday this year).

Quiet Kenny (1959) is a favorite of mine for it’s deep and abiding late 1950s chill:

Earlier this year, I blogged my disappointment that Max Roach wasn’t feted the way that some of his contemporaries were on their centennial. I’m still not sure why to be honest. His music, his activism, and his status among his peers made a lasting impact on music. To celebrate his work, Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra released a new album called The Music of Max Roach.

It’s fine and enjoyable enough for a couple of listens:

Finally, Kenny Drew’s birthday came across my various social media feeds. He’s a guy who I’ve not always thought about. In fact, I can’t even say much about him other than he played on Coltrane’s Blue Train and was part of the community of expat Americans who contributed to the European jazz scene of the 1960s and accompanied Dexter Gordon on many of his European albums.

I’ve been enjoying Undercurrent (1960). Drew leads a group that included Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Hank Mobley on sax, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. It’s just a good hard bop album where everyone has plenty of room to solo and shine.