Eric Dolphy

Eric Dolphy will forever be remembered as the man who brought the bass clarinet to jazz, though he was at least as proficient on the alto saxophone and flute. Dolphy developed completely original tones and styles for playing all three of his instruments that walked the line between the new jazz and bop tradition. In addition, he was the first horn player to issue solo recitals. Dolphy joined Chico Hamilton and his quartet in 1958, after years in obscurity. He gained notice and won a solo deal with Prestige where he began recording with his own band by 1960 -- issuing the stellar Outward Bound and Out There discs -- both of which featured chamber jazz ensembles. Dolphy also joined the Charles Mingus quartet about this time and garnered great acclaim for his playing of all three instruments. While still with Prestige he later cut three live albums at the Five Spot in New York with Booker Little and Mal Waldron. Dolphy also played with Ornette Coleman in the double quartet that recorded Free Jazz for Atlantic that year. He played with the Max Roach Quintet until mid-1961, when he joined the John Coltrane Quartet. The Live at the Village Vanguard concerts -- the subject of their own box set -- are now regarded as seminal in the history of free jazz. However, they were largely vilified at the time for their long improvisational sequences and the lack of adherence to chordal cadences. Dolphy's true defining moment was his Blue Note debut, Out to Lunch, with Bobby Hutcherson, Tony Williams, and Richard Davis. The date featured five Dolphy originals and was, for that time, unparalleled in its harmonic and intervallic invention that underlined a sophisticated yet idiosyncratic melodic sense. Dolphy moved to Europe in 1963, playing and recording until he died in Germany of a diabetic coma in 1964 at 36. ~ Thom Jurek