Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch(jazz)(flac)[rogercc]

ERIC DOLPHY OUT TO LUNCH
Format:Flac
Released 1964
Recorded February 25, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey


Eric Dolphy was a true original with his own distinctive styles on alto, flute, and bass clarinet. His music fell into the "avant-garde" category yet he did not discard chordal improvisation altogether (although the relationship of his notes to the chords was often pretty abstract). While most of the other "free jazz" players sounded very serious in their playing, Dolphy's solos often came across as ecstatic and exuberant. His improvisations utilized very wide intervals, a variety of nonmusical speechlike sounds, and its own logic. Although the alto was his main axe, Dolphy was the first flutist to move beyond bop (influencing James Newton) and he largely introduced the bass clarinet to jazz as a solo instrument. He was also one of the first (after Coleman Hawkins) to record unaccompanied horn solos, preceding Anthony Braxton by five years.

Eric Dolphy was among the most daring, impassioned and technically assured improvisers to come of age in the 1960s and Out to Lunch! represents his most fully realised vision. From his ground-breaking work with Chico Hamilton and Charles Mingus, through his catalytic stint with John Coltrane, and all through his brilliant solo recordings for Prestige, this reed innovator defined the best elements of the swing and the bebop traditions, from Benny Carter through Bird, while extending on the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic freedom of Monk. Dolphy is an emotional shaman with a keen comic edge, as is evident in the rhythmic sauntering, drunken gait of his theme to "Straight Up and Down," and Monk's influence is clearly discernible in Dolphy's witty dissonances and vocalised blues phrasing throughout Out to Lunch! (his only Blue Note recording, completed shortly before his untimely death). Rhythm masters Richard Davis, Bobby Hutcherson and Tony Williams suspend time at will, sculpting in open space, while deconstructing the harmony and superimposing cubist rhythmic displacements--periodically regrouping around Freddie Hubbard's bumblebee trumpet and the leader's vocalised bass clarinet (his Monkish "Hat and Beard"), wailing alto (the martial parodies of the title tune), and exhilarating flute (the lyric, swinging "Gazzelloni"). --Chip Stern



1. Hat And Beard 8:24
2. Something Sweet, Something Tender 6:03
3. Gazzellioni 7:23
4. Out To Lunch 12:09
5. Straight Up And Down 8:19
[
Freddie Hubbard — trumpet
Eric Dolphy — bass clarinet (1 & 2), flute (3), alto saxophone (4 & 5)
Bobby Hutcherson — vibraphone
Richard Davis — bass
Tony Williams — drums