If you’ve been out to a local jazz function in recent years, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Kenny or Dorian Phelps lighting it up behind the drum set.
Although the pair of percussionists has a father-and-son connection, both continue to blaze their own unique paths of success in the music industry.
You can hear Dorian, who sits in with Rob Dixon at his weekly Tuesday night gig at the Mousetrap. Kenny will be drumming as part of Miles Davis and John Coltrane tribute shows with the Indianapolis Jazz Collective as part of this year’s Indy Jazz Fest.
It starts with a beat
While growing up in the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood in Indianapolis, Kenny, who is 58, remembers being drawn to the drums of the live gospel music at Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Assembly.
“I just loved the drums — I don’t know what it was,” Kenny said. “I would just sit over there by the guys and watch them. And then, when I would get home, I would pull out pots and pans and arrange them in that way.”
With time, Kenny paved a way for himself as a professional drummer while still attending Crispus Attucks High School, hitting the road with The Pentecostal Ambassadors.
“So that’s how I saw that it was a possible job,” said Phelps about his experience seeing the popular gospel band booking shows and selling records.
After high school, he ventured into the realm of R&B, playing with five-time Grammy award nominee El DeBarge before crossing paths with some of Indy’s prominent jazz players.
By the early ‘90s, he had met bassist Jon Wood, keyboardist Kevin Anker and saxophonist Rob Dixon.
“I had never really played around town at hotels, restaurants and corporate events — I knew nothing about that,” Kenny said. “I was just traveling with these gospel groups and trying to do R&B. They turned me on to pianist Steve Allee.”
Phelps connections
But before there was jazz, there was Valerie. Kenny met his wife Valerie while playing in the gospel production “Upon This Rock.”
“I was singing in the choir — me and Kenny met there,” Valerie, 62, said. “That was in 1993, and we were married by August. That’s how quickly we knew we were supposed to be together.”
By the late ‘90s, Kenny was a father of three children and playing as part of Allee’s quartet. He was playing jazz music, sometimes bringing Dorian, the middle child, along.
“I’d have him on my lap if I was setting up somewhere,” Kenny said about Dorian. “And he had some rhythm. I’d give him my sticks, and he could keep time, but he couldn’t reach the pedals.”
Dorian would indeed pick up the drumsticks and start playing on his own later in life, first in Broad Ripple High School’s marching band and then on his own drum set. Like his dad, it didn’t take long for the paid gigs to start coming his way.
By 2012, Kenny was playing with his own band, and then it happened. “I had a gig that I couldn’t do,” said Kenny. “And I said, ‘I think Dorian can do this.’”
The show: playing drums for Cynthia Layne — a local jazz great who passed away soon after in 2025 — at the now closed Latitude 360 on 4016 E. 82nd St. It gave Dorian a glimpse into the life of a professional musician.
“After he got paid, I think his sights turned a different way,” said Kenny. “He was practicing a lot. I was showing him some things. He could always really play, but I just showed him some minor details. Like, ‘Hey man. Work on this.’”
Drumming up success
After graduating from high school in 2014, Dorian kept drumming, but saw his time mostly consumed by menial jobs.
But his father kept bringing him on. “He was giving me gigs with other established artists, and they were willing to work with me,” said Dorian. “They knew I wasn’t all the way there yet, but they were willing to work with me.”
By the time he turned 30, Dorian was done putting drumming in second place and quit his job washing buses.
These days, Dorian has made a name for himself. He regularly plays with local jazz mainstays such as Dixon while also getting out-of-state gigs with internationally acclaimed jazz acts.
Most notably, Dorian had the opportunity to sub in as the drummer for Grammy award-winning jazz saxophonist Kenny Garrett at shows in Chicago, Cincinnati and New Orleans this year.
But although Dorian has enjoyed a degree of success, he’s not so busy that he can’t make time to make music with his family.
In reflecting on how Dorian’s career has progressed thus far, Valerie, who leads the band The Phelps Connection with Kenny, said she couldn’t be prouder of her son. Dorian recently contributed drums to some of the songs from her new album “Project 7,” which was released in July. Kenny also drums in some of the songs.
“Dorian is just progressively getting better and better,” Valerie said. “I remember when his dad said, ‘If you really want to do this, you’ve really gotta practice and be serious.’ Once he said that, there was no turning back.”
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Seth Johnson is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach him at seth.johnson4291@gmail.com.
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