What a beautifully written piece, befitting the greatness of Eric Dolphy. You know, people either hear it or they don’t. When you do, you realize how astonishing and emotionally honest and unique it was the way Eric heard sound. As you said, like no one else.
My favorite album with Eric is Blues and the Abstract Truth. Oliver Nelson, a genius in his own right, assembled this brilliant cast and wrote the most incredible music for them that somehow allowed each musician to be themselves and yet be cohesive. That only happens when the musicianship is on a supreme level. Here’s Teenie’s Blues - Dig!
Dolphy was the sound and all of the textures imaginable coming from a total perspective of his Own Inner Rhymic Pulse. 🎷 He was and always will be my hero.
When Eric Dolphy starts to warbling I just smile. He seems to have at his command an entire universe-zoo of musical ideas, a cosmic platypus of sorts. Wow. Oh. Just awe.
Thanks so much for this well-written and insightful post. I’m getting out my Dolphy t-shirt and wearing it on my next gig. Love all his amazing work as leader and sideman such as the above-mentioned Oliver Nelson record (especially on Stolen Moments). Another favorite is Magic, the double album with Ron Carter. What a unique mind coupled with incredible facility.
Dolphy was such an incredible musician. He made me fall in love with improvisation on the Bass Clarinet and paved the way for musicians such as David Murray who continued the Bass Clarinet Jazz lineage!
I'm trying to remember my first hearing of Dolphy. Probably the Mingus recording of Hora Decubitas. BUT....wasn't there a Chico Hamilton group with Dolphy? I never heard that one, but I was instantly shaken by Dolphy's playing and I never left the woodshed after that. What a complete musician Eric Dolphy was! OTOH I think it was on "India" that I first heard Eric Dolphy. Man, I don't know any more. Do it matter? It don't. Not really. Eric is in HERE>
Although I’d been a fan of Louis Armstrong since grade school, it was discovering Dolphy’s Last Date 60 years ago that opened my ears to jazz with a passion in a revelatory moment I will never forget.
Thanks - you have a way of truly expressing what Dolphy created as a musician & a person. He and Coltrane were my main source of beauty when I was growing up in the Bronx - when they both died within a few years of each other I stopped listening to any jazz for a couple years - I was truly mourning their loss. I had left NY for grad school & didn’t start listening again until I heard by accident a Ellington piece on the radio - It brought back the beauty of improvised jazz & I haven’t stopped listening since. Thanks again
What a beautifully written piece, befitting the greatness of Eric Dolphy. You know, people either hear it or they don’t. When you do, you realize how astonishing and emotionally honest and unique it was the way Eric heard sound. As you said, like no one else.
My favorite album with Eric is Blues and the Abstract Truth. Oliver Nelson, a genius in his own right, assembled this brilliant cast and wrote the most incredible music for them that somehow allowed each musician to be themselves and yet be cohesive. That only happens when the musicianship is on a supreme level. Here’s Teenie’s Blues - Dig!
https://youtu.be/JHLir4XibmU?si=nUILAq3i-DDLLH8y
Dolphy was the sound and all of the textures imaginable coming from a total perspective of his Own Inner Rhymic Pulse. 🎷 He was and always will be my hero.
Bret--You talk of Dolphy's getting "between the notes...." I believe you have gotten between HIS notes. Bravo. Peter G, Newton, MA
When Eric Dolphy starts to warbling I just smile. He seems to have at his command an entire universe-zoo of musical ideas, a cosmic platypus of sorts. Wow. Oh. Just awe.
Thanks so much for this well-written and insightful post. I’m getting out my Dolphy t-shirt and wearing it on my next gig. Love all his amazing work as leader and sideman such as the above-mentioned Oliver Nelson record (especially on Stolen Moments). Another favorite is Magic, the double album with Ron Carter. What a unique mind coupled with incredible facility.
Dolphy was such an incredible musician. He made me fall in love with improvisation on the Bass Clarinet and paved the way for musicians such as David Murray who continued the Bass Clarinet Jazz lineage!
Great article - thanks for posting!
I'm trying to remember my first hearing of Dolphy. Probably the Mingus recording of Hora Decubitas. BUT....wasn't there a Chico Hamilton group with Dolphy? I never heard that one, but I was instantly shaken by Dolphy's playing and I never left the woodshed after that. What a complete musician Eric Dolphy was! OTOH I think it was on "India" that I first heard Eric Dolphy. Man, I don't know any more. Do it matter? It don't. Not really. Eric is in HERE>
Although I’d been a fan of Louis Armstrong since grade school, it was discovering Dolphy’s Last Date 60 years ago that opened my ears to jazz with a passion in a revelatory moment I will never forget.
Thanks - you have a way of truly expressing what Dolphy created as a musician & a person. He and Coltrane were my main source of beauty when I was growing up in the Bronx - when they both died within a few years of each other I stopped listening to any jazz for a couple years - I was truly mourning their loss. I had left NY for grad school & didn’t start listening again until I heard by accident a Ellington piece on the radio - It brought back the beauty of improvised jazz & I haven’t stopped listening since. Thanks again