This is one of my favorite albums. It’s hard bop but with a twist. And the twist is provided by Eric Dolphy of course. His playing is one of a kind and brings a bit of spice to this otherwise quite conventional hard bop session. Dolphy’s mastery of the rarely used bass clarinet and flute are astounding and adds interesting depths and dimensions compared to many other albums in my collection. Eric Dolphy was a superb musician and composer. I have started to explore his other, freer stuff as well and it’s great. I’ve listened to his live work with Mingus on their tour of Europe in 1964 and he just blows everyone away.
This is just the first of many other albums of his that I will try and acquire. I actually bought another copy of this a while back. It was a good copy, but with a few tics. So I upgraded straight away, cause I had the opportunity, to this wonderful copy that is M- all around. I did the same with another New Jazz title as well at the same time. I will post that album next I think, stay tuned for that. So I now have duplicates of these two titles. Don’t know if I will sell the duplicates or not, we’ll see.
What I also enjoy a lot about this session is that it has Roy Haynes on drums. As a drummer myself I really appreciate his playing and the sound of his drums. He plays with a lot of finesse. His snare work is exceptional. Also a great benefit to this album is that it has Freddie Hubbard on it, who is one of the greatest trumpeters of all time and one of my personal favorites. I think the album has a nice blend of tunes. It pretty much has got all the things I’m looking for in a hard bop album. It’s hard to pick a favorite tune, they are all great and very enjoyable. But maybe the beautiful ballad “Glad To Be Unhappy” takes 1st price. The flute playing is just out of this world. For more amazingly beautiful jazz flute listen to “Sketch of Melba” from Dolphy’s “Out There” album, also on New Jazz.
I would highly recommend this album if you are unfamiliar with it. It would be interesting to hear what you guys think of this album and if you have other Dolphy favorites you would like to share?
I’ve been able to secure some nice albums of late and will post them here on the site so stay tuned for more wonderful, vintage original jazz LP’s… cheers!