Out to Lunch

Eric Dolphy

album cover

Freedom, Swinging

The rare multitasker with an instantly identifiable sound on several instruments (flute, bass clarinet, alto saxophone), Eric Dolphy made free jazz that was filled with laughter and contentious arguments and lively expressions of humanity. Early experience playing with Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and others (and listening to the work of Ornette Coleman, a free pioneer who'd grabbed the spotlight just ahead of him) taught the Los Angeles–born Dolphy that avant-garde jazz had the potential to alienate even a hipster audience. So on his originals, he made sure that the music could lure ordinary listeners—his sound was heady avant-garde cut with a touch of child's play.

Dolphy (1928–1964) spent much of his career as a sideman. His break came when he joined the Charles Mingus Quartet in 1959; from there he made irreverent contributions to records by Ornette Coleman (see p. 181), Booker Little (see p. 450), and, most notably, John Coltrane (see p. 182). Dolphy participated in Coltrane's groundbreaking Village Vanguard recordings in late 1961. Dolphy recorded under his own name beginning in 1960, but it's Out to Lunch (1964) that best illustrates his thinking. The five tunes incorporate recurring riffs and winding-road melodies, and Dolphy enlists a top-shelf ensemble (trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Richard Davis, drummer Tony Williams, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson) to help him pursue ideas that are intricately interconnected. Saying in the liner notes that he knew he wanted "a free date to begin with," Dolphy explains that this rhythm section pointed him toward a new notion of freedom. "They can play different kinds of ways, like Tony does here—different ways, but you can still count it."

While Williams's choppy metric agitations keep everyone on edge, Hutcherson, who went on to make dazzling records on his own (see p. 375)—is the date's true catalyst. The vibraphone has a more transparent sound than the piano, and Hutcherson makes the most of it—his crisp chording creates open vistas, and Dolphy fills these up with animated flute solos that suggest ladies gossiping over tea ("Gazzelloni") or foreboding bass clarinet excursions ("Hat and Beard" might be the instrument's shining jazz moment). When Dolphy really wanted to have fun, however, he picked up the alto saxophone. On the title track, he alternates between outlining the harmony when he darts "inside" to play a bluesy phrase, and obliterating it with squawks and squeals that head for the outer limits. Where, it seems, he can get away with almost anything.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 1964, Blue Note
Key Tracks: "Straight Up and Down," "Hat and Beard," "Something Sweet, Something Tender"
Catalog Choice: At the Five Spot, Vol. 1.
Next Stop: John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard
After That: Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The Inflated Tear
Book Page: 230

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