Search - Eric Dolphy :: Vintage Dolphy

An odd match

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 07/26/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This disc combines music from three different sources, all unreleased during Dolphy's lifetime. The first few tracks are from a terrific live date with the otherwise unknown Ed Armour on trumpet, Richard Davis on bass and J.C. Moses on drums (this is from the period of the Illinois concert on which Herbie Hancock was added to the group). This is terrific music, and the main reason to purchase the CD, though perhaps these renditions don't surpass those on albums like _Iron Man_.The bulk of the rest is third-stream music with Gunther Schuller, notably a version of "Abstraction" which was more famously recorded by Ornette Coleman for Atlantic. This material is worth hearing but not particularly involving.The final track is a fun if inconsequential jam on "Donna Lee" with an all-star band including Phil Woods, Benny Golson, Jimmy Knepper, Don Ellis, Jim Hall & others. Worth a listen, though it's basically a makeweight.If Dolphy had left more music behind this disc would be skippable. As it is, it's worth a listen, if not one of the essential Dolphy documents."

Better-than-Average Posthumous Patchwork

Richard B. Luhrs | Jackson Heights, NY United States | 04/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Among the many obscure Eric Dolphy albums assembled and released after the reedsman's death in 1964, VINTAGE DOLPHY stands out for both the variety and quality of the performances it contains. Drawing together a trio of tunes by a Dolphy-led pianoless quartet, several "third stream" pieces by composer Gunther Schuller with Dolphy as featured soloist and, finally, a big-band jam session on Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee," the compilation would appear at first glance to be a bit of a mess - all the more so as it juxtaposes numbers from three separate concerts recorded over a period of a year. But in fact, the consistency of the musical visions represented, even on the Parker track, makes for a fairly solid and coherent hour which any Dolphy fan should be well impressed with. The consistently excellent sound quality doesn't hurt, either. This certainly isn't the place to start exploring Dolphy, but it's a worthy repository for some of the more avant-garde twists and turns of a tragically truncated jazz career."