Kenny Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter and composer born in Fairfield, Arkansas, who began his professional career in the mid-1940s and became associated with the bebop and hard bop movements in New York City. His playing and compositions combined lyrical phrasing with the complex harmonies and rhythmic drive characteristic of bebop and hard bop, and across his career he contributed to the development of post‑war jazz through recordings and performances that balanced small‑group improvisation with arranged forms.
