AOTW May 6-12: Eric Dolphy Last Date

[felser]

This is definitely my favorite Dolphy album, showing that he was continuing to grow as a musician right up to his death. Recorded in Europe on Jun 2 1964, the same month Dolphy passed, this album features a stunning flute rendition of "You Don't Know What Love Is" which is beyond beautiful, and a kick-butt bass clarinet performance of "Epistrophy". Each exceeds 11 minutes. The European rhythm section, Misha Mengelberg, Jacques Schols, and Han Bennick, support Dolphy beautifully, and the spoken snippet Dolphy ends the album with is haunting. The other performances are also strong. This is a much more "inside" set than 'Out to Lunch', but Dolphy thrives on the structure. That was also true of the earlier "In Europe" albums released on Prestige, which also rank among my favorites of his.

Edited May 5, 2007 by felser

[dave9199]

One of my favorite bits to listen to in all of jazz is the first riff in the first song. It's only about 2 seconds, but that last note is just...I don't know how to describe it. It's that live sound.

Edited May 5, 2007 by dave9199

[kh1958]

You Don't Know What Love Is has long been my favorite jazz flute performance. I'm also partial to the two alto songs on the LP-Miss Ann and The Madrig Speaks, the Panther Walks.

[clifford_thornton]

One of my favorite bits to listen to in all of jazz is the first riff in the first song. It's only about 2 seconds, but that last note is just...I don't know how to describe it. It's that live sound.

Sadly, it's actually a studio record.

But yeah, excellent stuff. I'll throw it on later today... that and the ICP variant of that tour, with "Eeko" on side two.

Edited May 7, 2007 by clifford_thornton

[paul secor]

One of my favorite bits to listen to in all of jazz is the first riff in the first song. It's only about 2 seconds, but that last note is just...I don't know how to describe it. It's that live sound.

Sadly, it's actually a studio record.

But yeah, excellent stuff. I'll throw it on later today... that and the ICP variant of that tour, with "Eeko" on side two.

When I heard Eeko it almost made me want to get a parrot. Almost.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, and Prince Lasha made me think about getting a Firebird...

[ep1str0phy]

This one is great--maybe my favorite Dolphy session as leader, with Out to Lunch and Out There. Despite the supposed discord between Dolphy and the Dutch contingency, the music here is beautiful, a fine ensemble album (although not exactly an innovative group music, which I think everyone here might lay claim to in other contexts).

This is also the album that really hooked me onto Dolphy's bass clarinet--it's in full flower here, and he can dance on that cumbersome reed like few people can maneuver an alto.. my favorite version of "Epistrophy", probably--it changed the way I listened to Monk, which is much more than I can say for most "strange" Monk interpretations.

[B. Clugston]

My first Dolphy album and one of the first jazz CDs I bought.

This would serve as a good introduction to Dolphy--he's strong on all three instruments.

Love “Epistrophy.” It was the first time I had heard that tune. “You Don’t Know What Love Is” is amazing. Nice version of “Miss Ann,” and then “when you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone in the air, you can never capture it again.”

[clifford_thornton]

I like Mengelberg's tune, "Hypochristmutrefuzz," a lot. It was apparently written to trip up Dolphy, because he wasn't a real circular-breathing type of player.

[felser]

up

[Alexander Hawkins]

I'm surprised at the stories about discord between Misha, Han, Schols and Dolphy. What are the sources for this?

Edited May 9, 2007 by Red

[six string]

One of my favorite bits to listen to in all of jazz is the first riff in the first song. It's only about 2 seconds, but that last note is just...I don't know how to describe it. It's that live sound.

Sadly, it's actually a studio record.

But yeah, excellent stuff. I'll throw it on later today... that and the ICP variant of that tour, with "Eeko" on side two.

Live in the studio? There is a small audience applauding at the end of some songs and after Dolphy's flute solo on You Don't Know What Love Is. Am I missing some informantion or misunderstanding your post?

BTW, terrific album indeed. He had so many good albums, I'm not sure I could pick one out as his best. Are there any to avoid? I love the cover of the album too. Cool drawing and great pictures of Eric on the inside that make owning the 12" version worthhile.

[Alexander Hawkins]

One of my favorite bits to listen to in all of jazz is the first riff in the first song. It's only about 2 seconds, but that last note is just...I don't know how to describe it. It's that live sound.

Sadly, it's actually a studio record.

But yeah, excellent stuff. I'll throw it on later today... that and the ICP variant of that tour, with "Eeko" on side two.

Live in the studio? There is a small audience applauding at the end of some songs and after Dolphy's flute solo on You Don't Know What Love Is. Am I missing some informantion or misunderstanding your post?

BTW, terrific album indeed. He had so many good albums, I'm not sure I could pick one out as his best. Are there any to avoid? I love the cover of the album too. Cool drawing and great pictures of Eric on the inside that make owning the 12" version worthhile.

Live in the studio, I think. I think it was also broadcast on television?

I love this record. I think after Tatum, Parker, and Ellington, Dolphy was the first musician whose music I completely fell in love with. IMHO this is a totally beautiful record. It's fascinating to hear Misha finding his feet here (or should I say, discovering how to misplace his feet), and it's a great reminder of what a killer drummer Han is. I think he has a very pre-bop thing to him - pretty foor to the floor fundamentally, and I love it!

[felser]

He had so many good albums, I'm not sure I could pick one out as his best. Are there any to avoid?

To me, 'Other Aspects' is a dog, failed experiments should have stayed in the can, but other than that, I can't think of any.

[B. Clugston]

He had so many good albums, I'm not sure I could pick one out as his best. Are there any to avoid?

To me, 'Other Aspects' is a dog, failed experiments should have stayed in the can, but other than that, I can't think of any.

Other Aspects is full of scraps, but "Jim Crow" is interesting. It's actually written by Bob James and performed with his trio. It's called "A Personal Statement." A better selection from that concert not on Other Aspects is "Strength and Unity." It's Dolphy, the James trio and eight French horns See http://adale.org/Discographies/LateED.html and scroll down.

To answer the original question, there's no Dolphy to avoid for musical reasons, though there's some suspect reissues that keep getting recycled, so make sure you don't get the same recording twice.

[clifford_thornton]

I understood that it was "live" in the studio, in front of Fontana people and a few select invitees.

[Chuck Nessa]

Hard to deal with all the opinions of people not alive when it was released. It seemed a nice record at the time and we were thankful.

The above is a delayed reaction to some posts in the thread about some words Cuscuna typed a few years ago. I find it all stupid and have refused to jump in. Better things to do. Sorry for my intrusion.

[Guest donald petersen]

sometimes chuckwonoso makes dignity sapping comments and i do not agree with but this comment smacked me in the face in a way i like because it is probably true that many of us dance and prance and sing about these albums getting reissues/finding unreleased material etc but at the time (in "real time") the music was coming out it was probably greeted with a smile and a shrug and maybe an exchange of a few dollars with the record clerk.

[felser]

sometimes chuckwonoso makes dignity sapping comments and i do not agree with but this comment smacked me in the face in a way i like because it is probably true that many of us dance and prance and sing about these albums getting reissues/finding unreleased material etc but at the time (in "real time") the music was coming out it was probably greeted with a smile and a shrug and maybe an exchange of a few dollars with the record clerk.

1 - Well, I've been listening to/buying the music since '72. and this album was pretty beloved even then. This isn't a digital-era discovery for me.

2 - There was more coming out in 'real time' than could be digested in real time then (especially considering all the OTHER stuff that was coming down in the 60's).

3 -"Chuckwonoso"?!?

Edited May 10, 2007 by felser

[Guest donald petersen]

i meant music in general...could apply to anything. though this album is as good as any for an example.

yeah i wasn't there-i don't know-i'm just saying chuck's comment "hit" me. i think. and i am someone who gets very excited about these things...over in the mainstream reissue thread i am about the most pumped person. but probably if you were there and particularly if you were mr. nessa those albums probably weren't even considered to be very good at the time. and now i would like to pay import prices for many of them.

i don't know-i thought i would africanize chuck's name for fun.

[Chuck Nessa]

I seem to have confused a few people (based on PMs, etc).

I love this recording and can probably hum most of the solos. I do think Eric abandoned very interesting compositional/group performances by moving to Europe where he had to work with "locals". Not a problem with "locals" but this was a step back for his musical development.

[(BB)]

Other than the Simosko, are there any other books on Mr. Dolphy's life that people can recomend?

[clifford_thornton]

Hmm.

I never really got the feeling that Dolphy came close to his potential as a composer. As a soloist and instrumentalist, well, that is a different story.

But then again, I wasn't "there"... just like nobody on this board was "there" for the Great War, I guess.