Far out multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy went quickly from hard bop swing to the periphery of the classical third stream. Born in Los Angeles California to West Indian parents. He began playing the clarinet in the first grade and branched out to the oboe and the alto saxophone in junior high. He studied at Los Angeles City College and the United States Naval School and spent two years in the army stationed in Washington D.C. He appeared on several albums (The Teddy Charles Tentet with the Teddy Charles Tentet in 1956; Ernie Andrews Ernie Andrews in 1957; It's All Over but the Swingin' with Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1957; and Gongs East! and Three Faces of Chico with the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1959, as well as the posthumously released compilation Hot & Cool Latin from sessions in 1959 half of which was recorded with Chico Hamilton and the other half with The Latin Jazz Quintet) before starting his own group in 1960 in New York City.
On April first of that year, he went into the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to record his first album as a bandleader Outward Bound with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Jaki Byard on piano, George Tucker on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. While the music is based in the post bop sound; but edges ever so slightly toward the avante garde. Four months later, he was back with a streamlined new cast that maintained Haynes and brought in George Duvivier on bass, and Ron Carter on bass and cello. Out There combined improvisational jazz with classical components to create surreal sketches of serene satisfaction.
That same year he recorded six albums with Charles Mingus (Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, Mingus Revisited, Mingus at Antibes, Mingus!, Mysterious Blues, and Pre-Bird) and at least a half dozen others (Caribé with The Latin Jazz Quintet, Looking Ahead with Ken McIntyre, Screamin' the Blues with Oliver Nelson, The Wonderful World of Jazz with John Lewis, Trane Whistle with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Free Jazz with Ornette Coleman) before recording Far Cry with the Eric Dolphy Quintet.
Dolphy would explain the root of his improvisations: “They’re based on freedom of sound. You start with one line and you keep inventing as you go along. And you keep creating until you state a phrase."
Outward Bound
Eric Dolphy — flute, bass clarinet, alto saxophone
Freddie Hubbard — trumpet
Jaki Byard — piano
George Tucker — bass
Roy Haynes — drums
All songs by Eric Dolphy unless otherwise indicated.
"G.W." - 7:57
"On Green Dolphin Street" (Bronislaw Kaper, Ned Washington) – 5:44
"Les" - 5:12
"245" - 6:49
"Glad To Be Unhappy" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) - 5:26
"Miss Toni" (Charles "Majeed" Greenlee) - 5:40
Out There
Eric Dolphy — flute, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, clarinet
Ron Carter — bass, cello
George Duvivier — bass
Roy Haynes — drums
All songs by Eric Dolphy unless otherwise indicated.
"Out There" (Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus) – 6:55
"Serene" – 7:01
"The Baron" – 2:57
"Eclipse" (Mingus) – 2:45
"17 West" – 4:50
"Sketch of Melba" (Randy Weston) – 4:40
"Feathers" (Hale Smith) – 5:00
