 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: melearly
Date: 2006-04-17 14:48
I would really love to buy some Eric Dolphy to hear some of the legendary bass clarinet playing but am having some trouble figuring out where to start with such a huge number of Cd's available!
Can anyone give me a quick run down on the 'essentials' to begin with?
much appreciated!
Mel
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-17 15:21
I don't have the CDs with me, but his recording with Booker Little is great. So is "out to (or for?) lunch"
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2006-04-17 15:48
It's "Out to Lunch". Another superb one is the recording from a live concert he gave at the Univ of Illinois. But, really, ANY Eric Dolphy recording is going to be good.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-04-17 16:11
For someone who is just buying their first Dolphy CD I would really recommend Eric Dolphy With Booker Little - Far Cry. Together with Out To Lunch it is in my opinion Dolphy's best album as leader.
I just looked on Amazon for Eric Dolphy, and eventhough I have a lot of his CDs, I just realized how many of his CDs I don't have (although I listened to most of them at music stores or friends)!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: larryb
Date: 2006-04-17 17:20
Look for his recording of "God Bless the Child," I think from his last session in Denmark. Above suggestions too.
I forget - did he play any bass on the Coltrane Village Vanguard recordings from 1961? You should get it anyway. Garvin Bushell also plays...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-04-17 19:53
I have a 3-CD set of live Charles Mingus that has Dolphy on it, playing a fair bit of bass clarinet.
Although I enjoy his improvisations, I can't stand his sound on the instrument. What always bugged me was that, when I was in high school, quite a few bass clarinet students during that era took Dolphy's sound as their role model for classical and concert band playing (!), with disastrous results.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-17 20:14
If you could find it, from your local university or library, there exists an old video recording of Mingus Sextet with Dolphy on alto sax and bass clarinet, recorded back in the 60s when they toured Amsterdam. I stumbled across it at my local library watched it for the first day when I did not know who Dolphy was. Needless to say it was an eye opening experience. it's B&W and about an hour in duration, but what music! Dolphy had one particularly bass solo that lasted about 4 minutes if I recall correctly. He played aggresively on this solo and his technique was awesome, jumping octaves here and there and going way up into altissimo and hitting his lowest note, the Eb, HARD (it was a Selmer and wasn't a low C bass).
It was interesting to see the other players (trumpet, tenor sax, piano) sitting there and watching him on this solo with a sense of bewilderment and admiration in their eyes. They were nodding their heads along with the music and smiling as if saying "gee, look at this guy going crazy here!". Mingus for some reason walked out of the stage and went away the whole time, and only returned to pick up his doublebass when Dolphy was nearly finished with his solo.
One thing I notice about his tone is the reediness. It's probably OK in jazz?
BTW, the piano player was great as well. Too bad Mingus did not pick up his bass and throw it across the room, it would have made this recording even more priceless.
Willy
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: CircaRevival
Date: 2006-04-17 21:46
Out to Lunch is a must for any Dolphy (or Jazz) fan. His recordings at the Five Spot (with Booker Little) were all recorded on one night, but are divided up into three "Volumes". These are my favorites.
"Out There" is also a great CD, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to Dolphy. It includes Dolphy playing alto, flute, bass clarinet on two tracks each and one unique track of him playing Bb clarinet. It also features Ron Carter on cello instead of a piano.
The "Live in Europe's" are good, but they are with foreign rhythm sections that Mr. Dolphy picked up, which are good, but not as nearly as good as others.
The Illinois Concert is excellent playing. A very unique Dolphy recording. It contains three tracks on bass clarinet, one on flute (excellent playing, but poorly mic'd), three on alto. One of the alto recordings is with a brass band, and another with the U. of Illinois big band.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Pathik
Date: 2006-04-18 06:21
If you're interested in listening to Eric Dolphy's work on the B flat clarinet, I would recommend you check out his only recorded improvised solo on that instrument, which is on the tune Warm Canto, from a recording session led by pianist Mal Waldron in 1961. It's a sensitive and beautifully conceived solo, marred only by a troublesome reed. Eric also plays really beautiful B flat clarinet with Chico Hamilton's Quintet, recorded in 1958. The albums Gongs East and Ellington Suite contains some very nice clarinet playing by him, as well as quite wonderful flute and alto sax. On the title track from Gongs East he plays one of his earliest solos on bass clarinet. It's great, but somewhat conventional compared to his later work on that instrument.
Just about anything Eric Dolphy ever recorded is at least very good, and most of it is exceptional. Make sure you listen to at least one version of his solo bass clarinet feature God Bless The Child, the best version probably being the one recorded in Copenhagen. Otherwise, the album Out To Lunch from 1964 is phenomenal and quite astonishing, although probably not exactly "easy listening" for someone not used to the avant garde jazz of the 60s. The live recordings from Five Spot are also incredibly good, including quite a bit of truly awesome bass clarinet playing. The only problem with these recordings is a piano that's badly out of tune (although Mal Waldron manages to play wonderfully on it all the same), otherwise they contain some of the best modern jazz you're ever likely to hear.
One of my favourite Eric Dolphy recordings is the album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, on which Eric plays alto sax on all selections apart from one bass clarinet feature, called What Love. If you haven't yet heard What Love (and the whole album for that matter), please do yourself a big favour and listen to it, as it contains probably one of the most bizarre and exceptional duets in the entire history of recorded jazz. It's Charles Mingus on bass and Eric on bass clarinet having a kind of "conversation" together. I'm not quite sure which dialect it is, but Eric's playing on this track is in any case and by any standards well and truly gobsmacking.
Eric Dolphy unfortunately died too early to fulfil his great potential, but still remains one of the most unique voices in the history of jazz. As a musician and composer, he was equal to anyone else in 60s jazz, including John Coltrane, and anyone with any kind of interest in modern jazz or the bass clarinet (or the other instruments he played for that matter) would be well advised to study his work.
Post Edited (2006-04-18 07:55)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-04-19 05:53
I would just like to add a few things.
I know all the CDs recommended here (and I have most of them) and I would still recommend Eric Dolphy with Booker Little - Far Cry as the first one you should get.
Regarding his sound, I personally like it a lot. Some one asked "It's probably OK in jazz?" I think this is not the question to ask, because that's a question to ask for example a modern copy of that sort of jazz. You can't answer that since jazz is not enough of a specific thing.
IMHO a better question to ask yourself is why did he play with this sound, and why didn't he choose to play with a different "better" sound? I think his sound was the most appropriate for the music he played.
For those who don't like his sound, what do you think it should have been? More classical, less reedy? and if yes, then why? I look at it in a way that his sound had the same philosophy as his music, and I think it works very well.
Post Edited (2006-04-19 05:54)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-04-19 11:56
I don't like Dolphy's sound simply because it doesn't sound good to me --- nothing to do with his style, or technique, or musical philosophy, or favorite colors -- it just doesn't sound good to my ears.
Since you asked.....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Pathik
Date: 2006-04-22 08:39
Here's a great video of Eric Dolphy playing his solo bass clarinet version of God Bless the Child, recorded in Berlin in 1961. Sound and video quality are surprisingly good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuiIyDxa750&search=Dolphy
There are also quite a few other Eric Dolphy video clips to be found on the same web site, although most of them are in very poor technical quality. For some great alto sax playing by Eric, check out the video clip from the concert in Oslo in April 1964. Sound and video are very good on this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yWKRQgDPB4&search=Dolphy-
Post Edited (2006-04-22 09:01)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
