ERIC DOLPHY — Here and There (review)

ERIC DOLPHY — Here and There album cover Live album · 1966 · Hard Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
“Here and There” is a collection of live cuts by Eric Dolphy, recorded in the early 60s when he was really blowing up the scene, but not released until 1966, after his untimely passing. Although criticized for being a grab bag collection, the music on “Here” speaks for itself, Dolphy is in excellent form on every cut. Actually the eclectic mixture of bands is not so bad either, as we get to hear how the different groups interact with Eric’s trailblazing approach.

Side one opens with the best, Mal Waldron leading a furious hard bop rave up (“Status Seeking”) with an intense avant-garde opening melody, this one is tailor made for Dolphy and he tears it up. Waldron follows Dolphy’s opening flight with an earthy blues drenched solo on the piano. Side one closes with Dolphy playing “God Bless the Child” by himself on the bass clarinet. He takes a pleasant low key approach to this one, just playing the melody, which he backs with interesting Phillip Glass type repeating figures, sounding like the minimalist composer almost two decades before the formal arrival of “minimalism“.

Side two opens with Eric playing “Don’t Blame Me” on flute while backed by a European trio. Dolphy’s flute playing is always elegant, almost classical, and the trio responds with a fairly straight ahead reading of the tune while Eric unwinds a lengthy virtuoso swinging solo. Side two closes with “April Fool”, a very odd little bluesy number that has Dolphy playing the beatnik pied piper on flute while Jackie Byard backs him with weird vague dronish chords. Roy Haynes and George Tucker supply the straight faced rhythm for this characteristic Dolphy oddity. All the tunes on here are good, but it’s the first one and the final one that make this a must have for Dolphy fans.

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