Kenny Dorham was as Art Blakey once said "the uncrowned king" of Modern Jazz trumpet. This delightful album was a pet project of Kenny's as he loved the music of Jerome Kern and decided to do an album with a hand-picked all-star band of Kern's musical masterpiece "Showboat". Dorham selected his 6 favourite songs from the musical and delivers them with his beautiful sound, individual concept and total mastery. This date was done in December of 1960 and Dorham's band included the wonderful Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Kenny Drew, one of the finest of all Bud Powell's disciples on piano. A young pre-Coltrane Jimmy Garrison is on bass and the ubiquitous Arthur Taylor mans the drums in his usual swinging and definitive manner. This date is a wonderful re-interpretation of great music from the Great American Songbook by one of the greatest of all trumpeters....Kenny Dorham.
