Free For All Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 (edited) Eric Dolphy - Far Cry (click to buy) (with Booker Little, Jaki Byard, Ron Carter and Roy Haynes) I have much love for this one- it's long been one of my absolute favorite Dolphy sides. It's also some of my favorite Booker Little, sure wish HE could have been around a lot longer. And look, there's Roy MF Haynes again! He keeps showing up on all my favorite sides (remember my recent pick, Out Of The Afternoon?). Jaki Byard sounds great and IMHO knows exactly how to comp (including when to get out of the way) behind the horn players. Dolphy's solos on this just crack me up they're so good. One of the amazing things about this is that it was recorded the SAME DAY after Dolphy participated in Ornette's Free Jazz session! Can you imagine doing that and then going to do another intense and heavy session? Boggles the mind. I hope he got at least a short nap in between. It's obvious that Booker was one of Woody Shaw's major influences. On this session Booker sounds to me absolutely like an extension of Clifford- that clean articulation and beautiful sound with some new harmonic ideas and unique angular melodic structure added to the mix. This is great Dolphy for sure, but I love it as much for what the others contribute. Everything works IMHO. And the recording is wonderful, I love the K2 version. I look forward to all of your comments! (I hope there are some) Edited April 11, 2006 by Jim Alfredson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spontooneous Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Great choice. Can't go for long without my "Miss Ann." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 This is great Dolphy for sure, but I love it as much for what the others contribute. Everything works IMHO. Yes... except I dunno about "It's Magic". But "Tenderly" is one of the greatest things Dolphy ever recorded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Excellent choice. I'm more of an "Out There" man myself, but most (if not all) of Dolphy's Prestige sides are classic. I'd pay to hear the man play the phone book (and he probably could). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 This was the first Eric Dolphy album I bought, back in the 1960's. A stone classic - one of his best, among many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 I like this the best out of the Prestige Dolphy I've heard (Outward Bound, Out There, two vols of Five Spot). The band is just really tight and the tune selection is excellent. That said, Out to Lunch is still my favorite Dolphy. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Great original compositions on here as well. As for the standards - I thouroughly agree about 'Tenderly': phenomenal stuff. I used not to warm so much to 'It's Magic', but the sound of Dolphy's bass clarinet playing the melody really gets to me. 'Ugly Beauty' says it all (a composition he'd have sounded great on, IMHO). Much as I love Booker Little and Jaki Byard (and I do), I've always felt that part of the fascination Dolphy holds for me is in the musical tension with his sidemen. He sounds to me to be SO far ahead of everyone else (to my ears, Richard Davis excepted, on 'Out to Lunch' as well) that the whole enterprise is very precarious indeed. That said, Booker Little often works for me with Dolphy because he can play something of the straight man - Miles to Dolphy's Bird: but I really hear tensions with almost anyone else: Hutcherson, Hubbard, Haynes, Williams, Carter etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Great excuse to pull this one out again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 "It's Magic" is magic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 I wish I could contribute to this thread - I haven't heard this in several years, and don't even think I have a reference copy anymore! Really like the Byard-Carter-Haynes combo, though I've often thought Mal was a better complement to Dolphy's playing. Sure, both Byard and Dolphy are rooted in tradition while simultaneously being on the tip of the vanguard, and both have a healthy dose of eclecticism (albeit Dolphy's was in the tunes he called, while Byard's was both in tunes and soloing), but Mal was the perfect grounding while still being harmonically on the same page. Just MHO, of course... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rep Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 I really like this album and ofcourse Out To Lunch. The funny thing is I have been replaying Eric Dolphy music since I was stopped dead by the beauty and intelligence of his solos when playing with Mingus on numbers like Stormy Weather and R&R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted March 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 I'm more of an "Out There" man myself That's what I've heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 I'm more of an "Out There" man myself That's what I've heard. Touche. Frankly, I'm surprised this AOTW hasn't incited more discussion. I'd contribute more, but my copy of "Far Cry" is stuck in LA somewhere (although it's really just a couple of postage stamps away). I might call "Far Cry" a prototypal ED date, but there are just so many unique edges. Again, Dolphy's Prestige/New Jazz sides were startlingly consistent... invoking one album just implies the next. The first cut is played on bass clarinet--a fragmented, loping chart... anticipating "Out to Lunch," perhaps? It's touches such as these that lend a great deal of coherence to Dolphy's recorded legacy, as sparse and contracted as it is--he was always sort of "out there," wasn't he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 I just picked this up and am really enjoying it. I was unable to locate the K2 version. However the OJC sounds good to me. Can anyone tell me if the K2 is a worthy upgrade? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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