Jazz Small Ensembles

Monday, October 9, 2023 at 7:30pm CDT

McClintock Choral and Recital Room

Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort, conductors

Jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer McKinley Howard “Kenny” Dorham is frequently lauded by critics and fellow musicians, but in his lifetime he never received the level of recognition that many of his peers attained. An active bebop trumpeter, he played in the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstein, Dizzy Gilespie, and Mercer Ellington, as well as Charlie Parker’s quintet, and was a charter member of the original Jazz Messengers. He recorded as a sideman with Sonny Rollins, the virtuosic tenor saxophonist hailed as “the greatest living improviser,” with a career spanning seven decades. Rollins recorded over 60 albums as a bandleader, and his collaborations have included such luminaries as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Max Roach. Many of his compositions—”St. Thomas,” “Oleo,” “Doxy,” and “Airegin” among them—have become jazz standards. Join the Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort Ensembles for a celebration of these two jazz masters.

Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid ID.