''Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

by American jazz trumpeter

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and occasional singer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention ...

recorded at the

Café Bohemia The Café Bohemia is a jazz club located at 15 Barrow Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Its original run lasted from 1955 to 1960, and has been revived at its original location as of October 2019. History The club w ...

on May 31, 1956 and released on

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

later that year.

Background

Composition and recording

The song "Hill's Edge", credited to Dorham on the release, is partially the jazz standard

Tune Up "Tune Up" or "Tune-Up" is a composition written by Eddie Vinson, but is traditionally credited to Miles Davis, who first recorded and popularized it. It has become a jazz standard. Background and history "Tune Up" was first recorded on May 19, 19 ...

played with a new introduction and contrafact composed by Dorham. "N.Y. Theme", credited to Dorham on the release, is Thelonious Monk's 52nd Street Theme. "Royal Roost", which Dorham had recorded in 1946 as a member of Kenny Clarke's 52nd Street Boys group, was recorded by

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

in May 1956 under the title ''

Tenor Madness ''Tenor Madness'' is an album by jazz musician Sonny Rollins released in October 1956 by Prestige Records. It is most notable for its title track, the only known recording featuring both Rollins and John Coltrane. History Rollins, who had record ...

''. "Mexico City" is a

contrafact A contrafact is a musical work based on a prior work. The term comes from classical music and has only since the 1940s been applied to jazz, where it is still not standard. In classical music, contrafacts have been used as early as the parody m ...

of Bud Powell's composition

Tempus Fugit ''Tempus fugit'' () is a Latin phrase, usually translated into English as "time flies". The expression comes from line 284 of book 3 of Virgil's ''Georgics'', Vergilius Maro, Publius. ''Georgicon'', III. c. 29 BC. Hosted at Wikisource ...

Release history

The original release featured 6 tracks; another 11 tracks, including some alternate takes, were released on two LPs in 1984 on the Japanese Blue Note label, as BNJ 61003/61004. A complete edition was released as a double-CD set in 2002.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review states, "This music is designed for relaxing and grooving out. It will greatly assist anyone who is traveling by night or trying to make it through to the end of another day." ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' selected album as part of its suggested Core Collection, giving it four-of-four stars.

Track listing

Original release

''The Complete 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia''

Personnel

Musicians

– trumpet * J. R. Monterose – tenor saxophone *

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige Records, Prestige, Blue Note, Verve Records, Verve, CTI Records, CTI, Muse Records, Muse, and Concord Records, Conco ...

– guitar *

Bobby Timmons Robert Henry Timmons (December 19, 1935 – March 1, 1974) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He was a sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for two periods (July 1958 to September 1959; February 1960 to June 1961), between which he ...

– piano * Sam Jones – bass *

Arthur Edgehill Clifford Arthur Edghill Jr. (July 21, 1926 – September 10, 2024) was an American hard bop jazz drummer active in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, appearing on several of the Prestige recordings recorded at the successive Van Gelder Studios, in Hac ...

– drums

Technical personnel

Original

Alfred Lion Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987) was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by le ...

– producer *

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Mil ...

– recording engineer, mastering *

Reid Miles Reid Miles (July 4, 1927 – February 2, 1993) was an American graphic designer and photographer best known for his work for Blue Note Records in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Miles was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 4, 1927, but, follow ...

– design *

Francis Wolff Francis Wolff (April 5, 1907 – March 8, 1971) was a record company executive, photographer and record producer. Wolff's skills, as an executive and a photographer, were important contributions to the success of the Blue Note record label. Car ...

– photography *

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

– liner notes

Reissue

Michael Cuscuna Michael Cuscuna (September 20, 1948 – April 20, 2024) was an American jazz record producer and writer. He was the co-founder of Mosaic Records and a discographer of Blue Note Records. Biography Career Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and flute ...

– producer * Rudy Van Gelder – remastering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia Blue Note Records live albums Kenny Dorham live albums 1957 live albums Albums recorded at the Café Bohemia Albums produced by Alfred Lion