Tough bootin’ tenor sax players and blues-wailin’ guitarists may immediately be associated with Texas, but it should be remembered that trumpet ace Kenny Dorham also hailed from the Lone Star State. One of the Savoy label’s original BeBop Boys, somehow, in the scheme of things, KD, is sometimes overlooked despite the fact he replaced Miles in Bird’s quintet (1948), partnered Hank Mobley in The Jazz Messengers (1956-58), fronted his own short-lived Jazz Prophets with J.R. Montrose, recorded with Monk, Rollins, Coltrane and just about everyone else you could wave a stick at. Furthermore, KD was the only person that Max Roach was adamant could fill the gap in his quintet following the tragic death of Clifford Brown and, as he moved from bebop into hard bop KD greatly improved both his tone and his skills.

Of the four albums spread over two discs here, This Is The Moment suffers from Dorham’s unimpressive vocals whereas Quiet Kenny is one of his finest showings prior to his game-changing Blue Note sojourn. Meanwhile, the two noteworthy LPs with Jackie McLean (the live – Inta Somethin’, the other the studio Matador) document a most fulfilling partnership (check out McLean’s solo showstopper ‘Lover Man’) that were cut in the middle of KD’s tenure with Blue Note where, in the company of Joe Henderson he reached a creative peak.

Last word - this is definitely one of the best compilations in Avid’s Four Classic Albums series. N.B. With McLean taking top billing, he and KD made one more album together Hipnosis (Blue Note).