A Tribute to Kenny Dorham by poet Dave Oliphant
Where two arts meet in love and respect
The jazz historian and poet Dave Oliphant reads selections from his epic poem “KD: A Jazz Biography”, his tribute to trumpet great and master musician Kenny Dorham, born August 30, 1924 in Post Oak, Texas. Some reviews:
“From the unquestioned authority on jazz music by Texans comes what is surely the most unusual book any music lover will read this year. KD is a 200-page poem, a verse biography of Texas trumpeter Kenny Dorham, who stands behind only Ornette Coleman as the state’s most gifted jazz artist. The great drummer Art Blakey called him the ‘uncrowned trumpet king,’ and writer Scott Yanow echoed what dozens of critics have noted since Dorham’s death at age 48 of kidney disease in 1972, that he was ‘almost famous for being underrated.’ So it’s poetic justice—in this case, that’s not a metaphor—that Dave Oliphant has crowned Dorham with a peerless tribute.” – Statesman.com
“Trying to put jazz into words can be tricky, like setting James Joyce to music. But Texas author, poet, and jazz expert Dave Oliphant has embraced a novel way to do so that is adventurous, just a little odd, and entirely satisfying. . . . So Oliphant riffs with four lines that rhyme. And like a great musician, he can make a deceptively simple line speak eloquently. . . . Thanks to Dave Oliphant’s slightly quirky but richly rewarding quatrains we have the Rubaiyat of Kenny Dorham.” —Foreword (June 2012)
Dave Oliphant is a native Texan poet, a recently retired professor from the University of Texas–Austin, and the editor and publisher of Prickly Pear Press. He is the author of numerous volumes of poetry, including Backtracking, Memories of Texas Towns and Cities, and Maria’s Poems, as well as a collection of 16 essays entitled Jazz Mavericks of the Lone Star State. He lives in Austin, Texas.
the Village Vanguard, NYC, January 1955
The repeat the book order info again AFTER the photo
– Ken McCarthy
Ella Fitzgerald