MYSTERY: Dolphy/Jitterbug Waltz Opening Head

[JSngry]

Here's one for ya'!

I'd never noticed it until hearing the alternate take on the new Resonance set (for the 3rd time at that), but listen to the transition from the end of the opening head to Dolphy's solo - the flute in the ensemble plays a downward figure that sets up the solo entry. On the master take, there is a bit of unnaturalness to the way the flute solo begins almost at the immediate end of that figure, but on the alternate, holy shit, Dolphy plays right over it, there's two flutes playing at the same time for a second or so!

The logistics of this have me a little puzzled. Either Lasha was playing the ensemble part, or else there was a punch-in somewhere. I don't hear a splice anywhere (and would not expect one, since the alternate clearly reveals what is up strategically - although there MIGHT be one in the middle of Woody's solo on the master)). I don't at all consider that the solos themselves were overdubbed over a bare rhythm track, doesn't sound like that at all, it's just that opening head, and really just those last two bars.

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts, though, that that's why the alternate stayed put for so long. Somebody caught the overlap and figured hey, you can't have this on a jazz record, it's supposed to be 100% real (joke would have been on them, of course), or else that it just sounded sloppy (yet they rolled tape for the rest of the take!). I think I may prefer Dolphy's solo on the alternate, but then again, that one is new to my ears, the master is anything but.

Anyway, on both takes, you can identify how Dolphy's mike presence on his solo is really different than it is on the heads. Until I heard the alternat, I just figured that was an in-studio, real-time adjustment by all concerned. But hearing the alternate, and then going back to the master, pretty much seals the deal that they were doing something other than a straight real-time take of the live quintet.

Have fun with this one, and somebody find Eddie Khan and/or Richard Davis while there's still time to ask about shit like this!

 

[JSngry]

Repeated listens only deepen the mystery...if that's Dolphy playing on the head, it was overdubbed after the take, which they would have done on both takes (because it's played slightly differently each time), which would be an odd decision? But if there was no overdubbing at all, somebody else was playing on the head, if only for that one little bit. Is it possible that Lasha would have been standing around just to play that one little bit? How do things like this escape the attention of producers & annotators?

This is truly strange.

[six string]

Very interesting.  I'm going to give it a listen today.

[JSngry]

Anybody?

[JSngry]

Nobody?

[six string]

I dropped the ball.  I did listen to the track but I didn't have this thread available and couldn't remember the details enough to analyze it.  Next time!

[JSngry]

Not a lot to analyze, really. Just listen to the alternate take and then hear how the flute solo starts while the flute on the head is still playing. It's weird!

[JSngry]

Up again, please. The "mystery" has yet to be solved?

[JSngry]

up? down? all around?

[bertrand]

Just saw this, I will check it out.

I believe Eddie Khan is gone...

Edited June 22, 2020 by bertrand

[Gheorghe]

I like this Album, it´s somehow a bit a mistery Album, sounds strange and else than everything I usually heard from Dolphy. The strangest Thing on it is the "Music Matador"....

[David Ayers]

Not hearing it. Are you sure it's not vinyl show-through? 

[JSngry]

Tell you what...I think i should stop believing anything my car system tells me...

[Gheorghe]

The first copy of it I had was on a strange and to me quite obscure label called "Trip Records". I remember on Edge of the cover was missing, but it was sealed, very very strange. 

[medjuck]

I don't hear it. I hear a sustained note on the vibes over which the solo begins.  But I do think I hear two flutes in unison at the beginning of the head. So maybe Lasha plays during the melody and kept playing while Dolphy began his solo. 

[Gheorghe]

This one is my first LP featuring this strange Jitterbug Waltz and the even more strange "Music Matador". And the label "Trip Records" also seems very strange to me.