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Eric Dolphy

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

Dol·phy

Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Dictionary - People
(dŏl'fē) pronunciation, Eric Allan 1928-1964.

American jazz clarinetist noted for his unconstrained solos and for introducing Eastern musical traditions into jazz.


Gale Musician Profiles:

Eric Dolphy

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Multi-instrumentalist, composer

Eric Dolphy, one of the most creative instrumentalists in jazz, also had one of the most distinctive and exciting styles ever recorded. His innovative play on alto saxophone extended into dimensions far beyond those reached by such influential predecessors as Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. Dolphy’s volcanic improvisations are characterized by jagged, twisting, leaping series of notes. His hard, clear, unique sound could alternate between warmth and coldness, yet was often surprising and always inspired. Dolphy had difficulty obtaining the opportunity to lead his own well-rehearsed groups within the immediate post-bop period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Consequently, the majority of his recorded work is as a sideman with such notables as Chico Hamilton, Charles Mingus, and John Coltrane. Yet Dolphy’s intense, passionate work expanded jazz artists’ capacity for expression and remains very influential. Though most often recorded on alto saxophone, Dolphy was the first flutist to take the instrument beyond bop conventions, and he also legitimized the clarinet and bass clarinet as solo instruments in jazz.

Born on June 20, 1928, in Los Angeles, California, Dolphy was the only child of parents of West Indian

descent. While growing up in central Los Angeles, he frequently accompanied his mother to the People’s Independent Church of Christ to attend her choir recitals, where he heard performances such as Handel’s Messiah. He eventually became a choir member himself and taught Sunday school there and at the Westminster Presbyterian Church where the father of jazz pianist Hampton Hawes was pastor.

Talented Young Musician
By the first grade, Dolphy was playing the clarinet. He joined a school band at age eight and began studying the oboe while in junior high. In addition to his school lessons, Dolphy also had private music teachers, and he showed great aptitude on clarinet at a young age. He was awarded a certificate for his abilities on that instrument during a California school band festival at age 13. Dolphy picked up the alto saxophone while in junior high and learned by imitating the solos he heard on jazz records and by playing with fellow students, including Hawes. Among Dolphy’s early influences were Charlie Parker and the sounds of nature. While in his teens, Dolphy would imitate the sounds of birds with his instrument while practicing in his backyard.

An incessant practicer, Dolphy’s parents converted their garage into a soundproof studio so he could practice by himself or play with groups. After graduating from high school he studied music for a time at Los Angeles City College. When he was 20, he became the lead alto player in a group called the 17 Beboppers headed by Roy Porter, a former drummer. Dolphy first recorded with this band late that year and can be heard in a brief alto solo on "Moods at Dusk."

Upon the breakup of Porter’s band in 1950, Dolphy enlisted in the Army and was stationed for two years at Fort Lewis, Washington; he later attended the U.S. Naval School of Music in Washington, D.C. After returning home in 1953 he gigged around the Los Angles area, where he met such jazz luminaries as Max Roach, Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman. From 1956-57, he led his own group at the Club Oasis.

Received National Attention
Dolphy first received national attention in 1958 when he joined a pianoless quartet led by drummer Chico Hamilton. This group attempted to fuse classical music with jazz, and played tightly arranged popular songs as well as straightforward jazz. Dolphy still had opportunities to improvise within this context, as shown in the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day, recorded at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Hamilton’s group disbanded in November of 1959, and Dolphy settled in New York, where he began working at Minton’s in Harlem. That December, he joined Charles Mingus’s band, which had an extended engagement in Greenwich Village.

In April of 1960, Dolphy led his first recording date, titled Outward Bound, which also featured young trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. This sparked an astonishing period of creativity for Dolphy, who through late 1961 would participate in at least 16 recording sessions. His improvisational development through this period is quite apparent. As Steve Holtje remarked in Music-Hound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide: "It’s possible over that short span to hear [Dolphy] develop in leaps and bounds, going from a good player with interesting compositional ideas that occasionally receive slight awkward execution to a master of his instruments whose every move is fluid and organic."

During this period, Dolphy led two additional recording sessions—Out There, which, like Hamilton’s group, did not use piano, and Far Cry, which marks the beginning of his association with trumpeter Booker Little. Dolphy was also in great demand as a sideman at this time. Among his many recording dates were sessions with Ken Mclntyre, Oliver Nelson, Mal Waldron, Ron Carter, Max Roach, George Russell, the Latin Jazz Quintet, and the Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Big Band. He also appeared on Ornette Coleman’s 1960 release Free Jazz, a double-quartet session and seminal avantgarde recording. In the spring of 1961 Dolphy joined John Coltrane’s group, playing on Olé and providing arrangements for the Africa/Brass recordings.

In July of 1961 Dolphy teamed again with Little and codirected a group for two weeks at the Five Spot Café in New York. The group was recorded there one evening, and the results spread across three live releases. The sympathetic ensemble and surroundings made for some of Dolphy’s best live recordings. As John Litweiler noted in The Freedom Principle: Jazz after 1958, "The results are Dolphy’s most personal revelations to date… ‘Status Seeking,’ ‘Fire Waltz,’ and especially ‘The Prophet’ are incredible displays of alto sound and spontaneous creation…. All the circumstances are right for these Five Spot recordings… resulting in a purposely, successfully, astounding evening of music."

Inspired Collaborations
That fall, Dolphy toured Europe and recorded with Coltrane’s ensemble as well as other pickup groups composed of often-inferior local musicians. He also made some live recordings with Coltrane’s group at the Village Vanguard in New York, collaborations that are often cited among Dolphy’s most inspired—he contributed lengthy and memorable bass clarinet solos on "Spiritual" and the two takes of "India" during the Vanguard sessions. His association with Coltrane was also controversial, however. Down Beat associate editor John Tynan inspired a backlash among conservative critics against their form of improvisation, dubbed the "new thing." Tynan called their work "nihilistic," and said "they seem bent on pursuing an anarchistic course in their music that can but be termed anti-jazz."

In response, Dolphy made reference to the inspiration for his improvisations. When asked what he was trying to achieve with his music, Dolphy told Down Beat, "What I’m trying to do I find enjoyable. Inspiring—what it makes me do. It helps me play, this feel. It’s like you have no idea what you’re going to do next. You have an idea, but there’s always that spontaneous thing that happens. This feeling, to me, leads the whole group." But Dolphy’s style was not as random as his remarks might lead one to believe. As Ted Gioia remarked in The History of Jazz, "Like Coltrane, Dolphy had mastered the art of jazz through diligence, an openness to new sounds, and assiduous practice. Both saxophonists came to adopt the most radical techniques of improvisation, but—and this was the marvel—did so in careful, almost methodical steps."

Dolphy continued to work as a sideman throughout 1962-63, working with Coltrane, Mingus, Hubbard, Gil Evans, Teddy Charles, and "third stream" orchestras led by John Lewis and Gunther Schuller, which attempted to fuse jazz with classical music; he also led his own sporadically recorded groups during this period. In February of 1964 Dolphy was finally able to assemble an ensemble of improvisational equals: Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Tony Williams. The resulting release, Out to Lunch, became a jazz classic and Dolphy’s most complete and mature studio effort. As Litweiler remarked, "Now that [Dolphy] is playing with other musicians as advanced as he, especially the innovatory Williams, his style advances in clarity and impact, with increases in both subtlety and scope. In fact, his art seems to have advanced in every possible way; here are the breakthroughs that must have been implicit from his 1960 New York recordings, when those strange sounds and sweeping revisions of Charlie Parker first appeared."

Hutcherson’s vibes, in particular, created a new texture for Dolphy and Hubbard’s improvisations on Out to Lunch that could not have been matched by a piano. Williams’s direction of the rhythm section also provided an appropriate backdrop for the horns. Writing in Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz, John F. Szwed remarked, "For the only time in his recording career, [Dolphy’s] own compositions are dominant, and the quintet is finely tuned to his intentions…. What is especially arresting is the free sense of rhythm created by drummer Tony Williams and bassist Richard Davis even as they generally hold to a fixed tempo. Dolphy’s solos—on flute on ‘Gazzeloni’ in particular—are the best he ever recorded." Other notable tracks from Out to Lunch are "Hat and Beard"—Dolphy’s tribute to noted pianist Thelonious Monk—and "Something Sweet, Something Tender," which features Dolphy on bass clarinet.

Sought Acceptance in Europe
Even after receiving some critical praise, Dolphy was forced to eke out a living teaching private lessons and recording as a sideman. Thinking that he might gain more acceptance as a musician outside the United States, Dolphy joined Mingus’s group once again for a 1964 European tour. In an interview with A. B. Spellman, recorded in the liner notes to Out to Lunch, Dolphy remarked, "I can get more work [in Europe] playing my own music… if you try to do anything different in this country, people put you down for it."

After the tour concluded in April, Dolphy remained in Europe, touring with pickup groups of varying quality. One session with a particularly fine rhythm section was recorded in the Netherlands in June of 1964 and issued as Last Date. Dolphy then recorded at least two radio sessions in Paris before heading to Germany. He arrived in Berlin on June 27 to open the Tangent, a new jazz club, with a trio led by German pianist Karlhans Berger. Dolphy was already very ill and able to complete only two sets on opening night. The following day his condition worsened and he asked friends to take him home. Dolphy died at age 36 on June 29, 1964, in Berlin from a circulatory collapse as a result of diabetes.

Selected discography
Other Aspects, Blue Note, 1960; reissued, 1987.
Out There, Prestige, 1960; reissued, Fantasy, 1990.
Outward Bound, New Jazz, 1960; reissued, Fantasy, 1990.
At The Five Spot, Volumes 1, 2, 3, Prestige, 1961; reissued, 1991.
Berlin Concerts, Enja, 1961; reissued, 1990.
Candid Dolphy, Candid, 1961; reissued, 1989.
Eric Dolphy in Europe, Volumes 1, 2, 3, 1961; reissued, 1965.
Here and There, Prestige, 1961; reissued, 1965.
Stockholm Sessions, Enja, 1961; reissued, 1988.
Far Cry, New Jazz, 1962.
Vintage Dolphy, Enja, 1962; reissued, GM, 1995.
Last Date, Fontana, 1964; reissued, Verve.
Out to Lunch, Blue Note, 1964.
The Complete Prestige Recordings, Fantasy, 1995.
Illinois Concert, Blue Note, 1999.

With others
(With Chico Hamilton) Gongs East, Warner Bros., 1958; reissued, WEA/London/Sire.
(With Ornette Coleman) Free Jazz, Atlantic, 1960; reissued, 1999.
(With Booker Little) Out Front, Candid, 1961; reissued, 1989.
(With John Coltrane) Africa/Brass; Africa/Brass Sessions, Volume 2, Impulse, 1961; reissued Africa/Brass Sessions Volumes 1 & 2, 1974.
(With John Coltrane) Olé, Atlantic, 1961.
(With Mal Waldron) The Quest, Prestige, 1961; reissued, Fantasy, 1992.
(With Max Roach) Percussion Bitter Sweet, Impulse, 1961.
(With John Coltrane) Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard, Impulse, 1962; reissued as The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, Impulse, 1997.
(With Andrew Hill) Point of Departure, Blue Note, 1964.
(With Charles Mingus) Town Hall Concert, Jazz Workshop, 1964.
(With Charles Mingus) Mingus at Antibes, Atlantic, 1976; reissued, 1986.

Sources
Books
Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP, & Cassette, Penguin, 1992.
Gioia, Ted, The History of Jazz, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Harris, Steve, Jazz on Compact Disc: A Critical Guide to the Best Recordings, Harmony Books, 1987.
Holtje, Steve, and Nancy Ann Lee, editors, MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 1998.
Litweiler, John, The Freedom Principle: Jazz after 1958, William Morrow and Company, 1984.
Simosko, Vladimir, and Barry Tepperman, Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography and Discography, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974.
Szwed, John F., Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz, Hyperion, 2000.

Periodicals
Down Beat, July 1994, p. 72-73; July 1999, p. 43.

Online
"Eric Dolphy," All Music Guide, http://allmusicguide.com (January 14, 2002).
"Eric Dolphy—Biography," Jazz-Institut Darmstadt, http://www.darmstadt.de/kultur/musik/jazz/dolphy-eric2.htm (January 15, 2002).
Additional information was obtained from liner notes for Outward Bound, Out There, and Out to Lunch.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Eric Dolphy

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Biography

Eric Dolphy was a true original with his own distinctive styles on alto, flute, and bass clarinet. His music fell into the "avant-garde" category yet he did not discard chordal improvisation altogether (although the relationship of his notes to the chords was often pretty abstract). While most of the other "free jazz" players sounded very serious in their playing, Dolphy's solos often came across as ecstatic and exuberant. His improvisations utilized very wide intervals, a variety of nonmusical speechlike sounds, and its own logic. Although the alto was his main axe, Dolphy was the first flutist to move beyond bop (influencing James Newton) and he largely introduced the bass clarinet to jazz as a solo instrument. He was also one of the first (after Coleman Hawkins) to record unaccompanied horn solos, preceding Anthony Braxton by five years.

Eric Dolphy first recorded while with Roy Porter & His Orchestra (1948-1950) in Los Angeles, he was in the Army for two years, and he then played in obscurity in L.A. until he joined the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1958. In 1959 he settled in New York and was soon a member of the Charles Mingus Quartet. By 1960 Dolphy was recording regularly as a leader for Prestige and gaining attention for his work with Mingus, but throughout his short career he had difficulty gaining steady work due to his very advanced style. Dolphy recorded quite a bit during 1960-1961, including three albums cut at the Five Spot while with trumpeter Booker Little, Free Jazz with Ornette Coleman, sessions with Max Roach, and some European dates.

Late in 1961 Dolphy was part of the John Coltrane Quintet; their engagement at the Village Vanguard caused conservative critics to try to smear them as playing "anti-jazz" due to the lengthy and very free solos. During 1962-1963 Dolphy played third stream music with Gunther Schuller and Orchestra U.S.A., and gigged all too rarely with his own group. In 1964 he recorded his classic Out to Lunch for Blue Note and traveled to Europe with the Charles Mingus Sextet (which was arguably the bassist's most exciting band, as shown on The Great Concert of Charles Mingus). After he chose to stay in Europe, Dolphy had a few gigs but then died suddenly from a diabetic coma at the age of 36, a major loss.

Virtually all of Eric Dolphy's recordings are in print, including a nine-CD box set of all of his Prestige sessions. In addition, Dolphy can be seen on film with John Coltrane (included on The Coltrane Legacy) and with Mingus from 1964 on a video released by Shanachie. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Eric Dolphy

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Eric Dolphy
Birth name Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr.
Born (1928-06-20)June 20, 1928
Los Angeles, California
Died June 29, 1964(1964-06-29) (aged 36)
Berlin, Germany
Genres Jazz, avant-garde jazz
Occupations Bandleader, composer, sideman
Instruments Alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, soprano clarinet, piccolo
Years active 1949–1964
Labels Verve
Impulse!
Prestige
Blue Note
Mercury
Associated acts Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Booker Little, Chico Hamilton, Mal Waldron, Ron Carter, Oliver Nelson, Ornette Coleman
Notable instruments
Bass clarinet, alto saxophone, flute

Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet, piccolo, and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to reproduce human- and animal-like effects which almost literally made his instruments speak. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Dolphy was born in Los Angeles to Eric Allan Dolphy, Sr. and Sadie Dolphy, who emigrated to the United States from Panama. He picked up the clarinet at the age of six, and in less than a month was playing in the school's orchestra. He also learned the oboe in junior high school, though he never recorded on the instrument. Hearing Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins led him towards jazz and he picked up the saxophone and flute while in high school. His father built a studio for Eric in their backyard, and Eric often had friends come by to jam; recordings with Clifford Brown from this studio document this early time. He performed locally for several years, most notably as a member of bebop big bands led by Gerald Wilson and Roy Porter. He was educated at Los Angeles City College and also directed the orchestra there. On early recordings, he occasionally played baritone saxophone, as well as alto saxophone, flute and soprano clarinet. Dolphy finally had his big break as a member of Chico Hamilton's quintet. With the group he became known to a wider audience and was able to tour extensively through 1959, when he parted ways with Hamilton and moved to New York City. Dolphy appears with the Hamilton quintet in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day playing flute.

Early partnerships

Charles Mingus had known Eric from growing up in Los Angeles, and Dolphy joined his band shortly after arriving in New York. He took part in Mingus' big band recording "Pre-Bird", and is featured on "Bemoanable Lady". Later he joined Mingus' working band which also included Dannie Richmond and Ted Curson. They worked at the Showplace during 1960 and recorded the classics "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" and "Mingus at Antibes" (the latter adding Booker Ervin on all tracks except "What Love" and Bud Powell for "I'll Remember April"). Dolphy, Mingus said, "was a complete musician. He could fit anywhere. He was a fine lead alto in a big band. He could make it in a classical group. And, of course, he was entirely his own man when he soloed... He had mastered jazz. And he had mastered all the instruments he played. In fact, he knew more than was supposed to be possible to do on them" (Last Date liner notes Limelight). During this time Dolphy also recorded a large ensemble session at the Candid label and took part in the Newport Rebels session. Dolphy left Mingus' band in 1961 and went to Europe for a few months, where he recorded in Scandinavia and Berlin, though he would record with Mingus throughout his career. He participated in the big band session for "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus" in 1963 and is featured on "Hora Decubitus". In early 1964 he joined Mingus' working band again, along with Jaki Byard, Johnny Coles, and Clifford Jordan. This sextet, widely regarded as one of the finest groups ever put together, worked at the Five Spot before playing shows at Cornell University and Town Hall in New York and touring Europe. Many recordings have been made of their tour, which although short, is well-documented.

Dolphy and John Coltrane knew each other long before they played together, having met when Coltrane was in LA with Miles Davis. They would often exchange ideas and learn from each other, and eventually, after many nights sitting in with Coltrane's band, Dolphy was asked to become a full member. Coltrane had gained an audience and critical notice with Miles Davis's quintet, but alienated many purists when he began to move away from congenital hard bop. Although Coltrane's quintets with Dolphy (including the Village Vanguard and Africa/Brass sessions) are now legendary, they originally provoked Down Beat magazine to brand Coltrane and Dolphy's music as 'anti-jazz'. Coltrane later said of this criticism: "they made it appear that we didn't even know the first thing about music (...) it hurt me to see [Dolphy] get hurt in this thing."[1] The initial release of Coltrane's stay at the Vanguard selected three tracks, only one of which featured Dolphy. After being issued haphazardly over the next 30 years, a comprehensive box set featuring all of the recorded music from the Vanguard was released by Impulse! in 1997: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings. The set heavily features Dolphy on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, and Coltrane made Dolphy the featured soloist on their renditions of "Naima". A later Pablo box set from Coltrane's European tours of the early 1960s collected more recordings which feature tunes not played at the Village Vanguard, such as "My Favorite Things" which Dolphy performs on flute.

Booker Little was a trumpet player who tragically died at 23 years old of uremia, although for a short time he and Dolphy had a very fruitful musical partnership that produced some of their finest music. Booker's leader date for Candid, "Out Front" featured Dolphy mainly on alto, though he played bass clarinet and flute on ensemble passages. "Far Cry" recorded for Prestige just after Eric had finished recording "Free Jazz" with Ornette Coleman, features Booker on Jaki Byard's "Mrs. Parker Of K.C." and "Ode To Charlie Parker" and Dolphy's "Far Cry" and "Miss Ann". Dolphy and Little also co-led a quintet at the Five Spot during 1961 that created some of jazz's most celebrated recordings. The rhythm section consisted of Richard Davis, Mal Waldron and Ed Blackwell. One night was documented and has been released on three volumes of "At the Five Spot" as well as the compilation "Here and There". Both Dolphy and Little backed Abbey Lincoln on her album "Straight Ahead", and played on Max Roach's "Percussion Bitter Sweet" as well as the horn section on John Coltrane's "Africa/Brass" sessions.

During this period, Dolphy also played in a number of challenging settings, notably in key recordings by Ornette Coleman (Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation), arranger Oliver Nelson ("Screamin' the Blues", The Blues and the Abstract Truth and Straight Ahead) and George Russell (Ezz-thetics). He also worked with Gunther Schuller, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Mal Waldron, multi-instrumentalist Ken McIntyre, and bassist Ron Carter, among others.

As a leader

Dolphy's recording career as a leader began with the Prestige label. His association with the label spanned across 13 albums recorded from April 1960 to September 1961, though he was not the leader for all of the sessions. Fantasy eventually released a 9-CD box set containing all of Dolphy's recorded output for Prestige.

Dolphy's first two albums as leader were Outward Bound and Out There; both featured artwork by Richard "Prophet" Jennings. The first, sounding closer to hard bop than some later releases, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey with then newcomer trumpet player Freddie Hubbard. The album features three Dolphy compositions: "G.W.", dedicated to Gerwald Wilson, and the blues "Les" and "245". Out There is closer to "third stream" music which would also form part of Dolphy's legacy, and features Ron Carter on cello. Charles Mingus' "Eclipse" from this album is one of the rare instances where Dolphy solos on soprano clarinet (others being "Warm Canto" from Mal Waldron's "The Quest" and "Densities" from the compilation "Vintage Dolphy".

Far Cry was also recorded for Prestige in 1960 and represented his first pairing with trumpeter Booker Little, a like-minded spirit with whom he would make a set of legendary live recordings at the Five Spot in New York before Little's death at the age of 23. The album includes his compositions "Far Cry" (which is the same line as "Out There", rearranged for two horns) and "Miss Ann".

Dolphy recorded several unaccompanied cuts on saxophone, which at the time had been done only by Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins. The album Far Cry contains his famous performance of the Gross-Lawrence standard "Tenderly" on alto saxophone, and his subsequent tour of Europe quickly set high standards for solo performance with his exhilarating bass clarinet renditions of Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" (an early version of this tune was recorded at the Five Spot during his residency with Booker Little). Numerous recordings were made of live performances by Dolphy on this tour, in Copenhagen, Uppsala and other cities, and these have been issued by many sometimes dubious record labels, drifting in and out of print, though many of not all have been remastered and are readily available. He also recorded a short solo rendition of "Love Me" on "Conversations".

20th century classical music also played a significant role in Dolphy's musical career. He performed Edgard Varèse's Density 21.5 for solo flute at the Ojai Music Festival in 1962[2] and participated in Gunther Schuller's Third Stream efforts of the 1960s.

Around 1962-63, one of Dolphy's working band included the young pianist Herbie Hancock, who can be heard on "The Illinois Concert" and "Gaslight 1962".

In July 1963, Dolphy and producer Alan Douglas arranged recording sessions for which his sidemen were among the leading emerging musicians of the day, and the results produced his Iron Man and Conversations LPs. These sessions were the marked the first time Dolphy played with Bobby Hutcherson, whom he knew from Los Angeles. The sessions are perhaps most famous for the three duets Dolphy performs with Richard Davis on "Alone Together", "Ode To Charlie Parker", and "Come Sunday". They also include a rendition of Fats Waller's classic "Jitterbug Waltz", Sonny Simmons' "Music Matador", and Dolphy's "Iron Man", "Mandrake" (a.k.a. "The Madrig Speaks, The Panther Walks"), and "Burning Spear" (a.k.a. "Half-Note Triplets").

In 1964, Dolphy signed with Blue Note Records and recorded Out to Lunch! with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis and Tony Williams. This album features Dolphy's fully developed avant-garde yet highly structured compositional style rooted in tradition. Out to Lunch!, his last major studio recording, is often considered his magnum opus.[3]

Final months

After Out to Lunch! and an appearance as a sideman on Andrew Hill's classic Point of Departure, Dolphy left to tour Europe with Charles Mingus' sextet in early 1964. Before a concert in Oslo, he informed Mingus that he planned to stay in Europe after their tour was finished. Mingus then named the blues they had been performing on the tour, "So Long Eric". He intended to settle in Europe with his fiancée, who was working on the ballet scene in Paris. After leaving Mingus, he performed and recorded a few sides with various European bands, and American musicians living in Paris, such as Donald Byrd and Nathan Davis. The famous Last Date with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink was recorded in Hilversum, Holland, though it was not actually Dolphy's last concert. Dolphy was also preparing to join Albert Ayler for a recording, and spoke of his desire of playing with Cecil Taylor. He also planned to form a band with Woody Shaw and Billy Higgins, and was writing a string quartet titled "Love Suite".

Eric Dolphy died accidentally in Berlin on June 28, 1964. Some details of his passing are still disputed, but it is accepted that he died of a coma brought on by an undiagnosed diabetic condition. The liner notes to the Complete Prestige Recordings boxset say that Dolphy "collapsed in his hotel room in Berlin and when brought to the hospital he was diagnosed as being in a diabetic coma. After being administered a shot of insulin (apparently a type stronger than what was then available in the US) he lapsed into insulin shock and died." A later documentary and liner note disputes this, saying Dolphy collapsed on stage in Berlin and was brought to a hospital. The attending hospital physicians had no idea that Dolphy was a diabetic and decided on a stereotypical view of jazz musicians related to substance abuse, that he had overdosed on drugs. He was left in a hospital bed for the drugs to run their course.[4]

Ted Curson remembers, "That really broke me up. When Eric got sick on that date [In Berlin], and him being black and a jazz musician, they thought he was a junkie. Eric didn't use any drugs. He was a diabetic - all they had to do was take a blood test and they would have found that out. So he died for nothing. They gave him some detox stuff and he died, and nobody ever went into that club in Berlin again. That was the end of that club".

Charles Mingus said, "Usually, when a man dies, you remember-or you say you remember-only the good things about him. With Eric, that's all you could remember. I don't remember any drags he did to anybody. The man was absolutely without a need to hurt".

Dolphy was posthumously inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame in 1964. Coltrane paid tribute to Dolphy in an interview: "Whatever I'd say would be an understatement. I can only say my life was made much better by knowing him. He was one of the greatest people I've ever known, as a man, a friend, and a musician."[citation needed] Dolphy's mother, Sadie, who had fond memories of her son practicing in the studio by her house, gave instruments that Dolphy had bought in France but never played to Coltrane, who subsequently played the flute and bass clarinet on several albums before his own death in 1967. Dolphy was engaged to be married to Joyce Mordecai, a classically-trained dancer.

Influence

Dolphy's musical presence was hugely influential to a who's who of young jazz musicians who would become legends in their own right. Dolphy worked intermittently with Ron Carter and Freddie Hubbard throughout his career, and in later years he hired Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson and Woody Shaw to work in his live and studio bands. Out to Lunch! featured yet another young lion who had just begun working with Dolphy in drummer Tony Williams, just as his participation on the Point of Departure session brought his influence into contact with up and coming tenor man Joe Henderson.

Carter, Hancock and Williams would go on to become one of the quintessential rhythm sections of the decade, both together on their own albums and as the backbone of the second great quintet of Miles Davis. This part of the second great quintet is an ironic footnote for Davis, who was not fond of Dolphy's music (in a 1964 Down Beat Blindfold Test, Miles famously quipped, "The next time I see [Dolphy] I'm going to step on his foot."[5]) yet absorbed a rhythm section who had all worked under Dolphy and created a band whose brand of "out" was unsurprisingly very similar to Dolphy's.

Dolphy's virtuoso instrumental abilities and unique style of jazz, deeply emotional and free but strongly rooted in tradition and structured composition, heavily influenced such musicians as Anthony Braxton, members of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Arthur Blythe, Don Byron and many others. Dolphy's compositions are the inspiration for many tribute albums, such as Oliver Lake's "Prophet" and "Dedicated to Dolphy", Jerome Harris' "Hidden In Plain View", and Ōtomo Yoshihide's re-imagining of "Out to Lunch".

In addition, his work with jazz and rock producer Alan Douglas allowed Dolphy's style to posthumously spread to musicians in the jazz fusion and rock environments, most notably with artists John McLaughlin and Jimi Hendrix. Frank Zappa, a highly influential composer who drew his inspiration from a variety of musical styles and idioms, paid tribute to Dolphy in the instrumental "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue" (on the 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh) as well as listing Dolphy as an influence on the liner notes for the Mothers' first LP, "Freak Out!".

Discography

Authorized releases are ones issued with Dolphy's input and approval, with all but the Blue Note LP appearing in Dolphy's lifetime. Dates for authorized albums are year of release; for posthumous compilations and sideman sessions by year of recording. Some releases with Dolphy as a sideman were issued much later than the date of the recording sessions.

Authorized releases

Posthumous compilations

  • 1959: Hot & Cool Latin
  • 1959: Wherever I Go
  • 1960: Candid Dolphy
  • 1960: Status
  • 1960: Dash One (Prestige)
  • 1960: Fire Waltz
  • 1960: Magic
  • 1960: Other Aspects (Blue Note)
  • 1960: Eric Dolphy
  • 1961: Here and There
  • 1961: Eric Dolphy in Europe, Vols. 1-3 (Prestige) also released as Copenhagen Concert (live)
  • 1961: The Complete Uppsala Concert
  • 1961: Stockholm Sessions
  • 1961: Quartet 1961 also released as Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (live)
  • 1961: At the Five Spot, Vol. 2 (Prestige) (live)
  • 1961: Memorial Album (Prestige) (live)
  • 1962: Vintage Dolphy
  • 1962: Eric Dolphy Quintet featuring Herbie Hancock: Complete Recordings
  • 1962: Berlin Concerts (live)
  • 1963: Iron Man
  • 1963: Conversations (both Conversations and Iron Man were released as a double LP titled Jitterbug Waltz)
  • 1963: The Illinois Concert (Blue Note) (live)
  • 1964: Last Date (live)
  • 1964: Naima
  • 1964: Unrealized Tapes
  • 1964: The Complete Last Recordings In Hilversum & Paris 1964

As sideman

With Ornette Coleman

With John Coltrane

With Phil Diaz

  • The Latin Jazz Quintet (United Artists, 1961)

With Chico Hamilton

  • Chico Hamilton Quintet with Strings Attached (1958)
  • The Original Ellington Suite (1958)
  • Gongs East! (1958)
  • That Hamilton Man (also released as Truth) (1959)

With Andrew Hill

With The Latin Jazz Quintet

  • Caribe (Prestige) (1960)

With John Lewis

  • The Sextet of Orchestra U.S.A. (1964)
  • John Lewis Presents Jazz Abstractions (1960)
  • Play Kurt Weill (1961)

With Abbey Lincoln

With Booker Little

With Ken McIntyre

  • Looking Ahead (1960)

With Charles Mingus

With Oliver Nelson

With Max Roach

With George Russell

With Mal Waldron

With Ron Carter

  • Where (New Jazz, 1961)

With Freddie Hubbard

With Ted Curson

  • Plenty of Horn

References

  1. ^ Interview with Frank Kofsky in Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music p242
  2. ^ Barry Dean Kernfeld, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, p. 632, 2002, Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-69189-X
  3. ^ Huey, Steve. Allmusic Review accessed 7 January 2010
  4. ^ Hylkema, Hans and Bruneau, Thierry. Eric Dolphy: Last Date (video), Rhapsody Films, 1991
  5. ^ Feather, Leonard. 3rd Blindfold Test Miles Davis. accessed 7 January 2010.

Further reading

  • Vladimir Simosko & Barry Tepperman: Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography and Discography, Da Capo Press, New York, 1979, ISBN 0-306-80107-8
  • Guillaume Belhomme: Eric Dolphy, Le mot et le reste, Marseille, 2008, ISBN :9782915378535
  • Raymond Horricks: "The Importance of Being Eric Dolphy", D J Costello Publishers Ltd., Great Britain, 1989. ISBN 0-7104-3048-5

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eric Dolphy

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gale Musician Profiles. Contemporary Musicians © 1989-2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists. Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Eric Dolphy.  Read more

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