Label:
Prestige – P-34002
Format:
3 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Remastered
This
Box Set includes an insert, triple gatefold / Country: US / Released: 1974
Style:
Free Jazz, Modal, Free Improvisation
Recorded
live at the Five Spot Cafe, New York City, 16 July 1961.
Art
Direction, Photography By [Cover Photo] – Tony Lane
Engineer
[Original Recording Engineer] – Rudy Van Gelder
Remastered
At – Fantasy Studios / By – Brian Gardner
Liner
Notes – Joe Goldberg, Ira Gitler, Robert Levin
Supervised
By [Original Recording] – Esmond Edwards
Sides
1 / 2 originally released as "Live At the Five Spot Volume 1"
(P/NJ-8260)
Sides
3 / 4 originally released as "Live At the Five Spot Volume 2"
(P/NJ-8288)
Sides
5 / 6 originally released as "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Album"
(P-7334)
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side A): P-34002-A
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side B): P-34002-B
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side C): P-34002-C
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side D): P-34002-D
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side E): P-34002-E
Matrix
/ Runout (Label Side F): P-34002-F
Disributed
by Fantasy Records, Tenth and Parker, Berkeley, Ca. 94710
side
1:
A1 - Fire Waltz (M. Waldron) .............................................................................
13:10
A2 - Bee Vamp (B. Little) ................................................................................... 12:11
side
2:
B
- The Prophet (E. Dolphy ............................................................................ 21:06
side
3:
C
- Aggression (B. Little) ................................................................................ 16:35
side
4:
D
- Like Someone In Love (J. Van Heusen-J. Burke) ....................................
19:29
side
5:
E
- Number Eight / Lotsa Potsa (E. Dolphy) ...................................................
15:25
s
F
- Booker's Waltz (E.Dolphy) ........................................................................
14:30
Personnel:
Eric
Dolphy – alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
Booker
Little – trumpet
Mal
Waldron – piano
Richard
Davis – bass
Eddie
Blackwell – drums, percussion
ERIC
DOLPHY / The Great Concert Of Eric Dolphy (1974. US, 7-tracks, triple LP box
set with insert, repackaging the albums 'Live At The Five Spot' & the 'Eric
Dolphy Memorial Album', all recorded live on July 16th 1961 in New York,
engineer – Rudy Van Gelder.
©
1974 Prestige Records / Printed in U.S.A.
After
having left the ensemble of Charles Mingus and upon working with John Coltrane,
Eric Dolphy formed a short-lived but potent quintet with trumpeter Booker
Little, who would pass away three months after this recording. Despite all of
the obstacles and subsequent tragedy, this quintet became legendary over the
years -- justifiably so -- and developed into a role model for all progressive
jazz combos to come. The combined power of Dolphy and Little -- exploring overt
but in retrospect not excessive dissonance and atonality -- made them a target
for critics but admired among the burgeoning progressive post-bop scene. With
the always stunning shadings of pianist Mal Waldron, the classical-cum-daring
bass playing of Richard Davis, and the colorful drumming of alchemistic Ed
Blackwell, there was no stopping this group. Live at the legendary Five Spot
Café in New York City, this band set the Apple, and the entire jazz world on
their collective ears. "Fire Waltz" demonstrates perfectly how the
bonfire burns from inside the soul of these five brilliant provocateurs, as
Dolphy's sour alto and Little's dour trumpet signify their new thing. Dolphy's
solo is positively furious, while Blackwell nimbly switches up sounds within
the steady 3/4 beat. "Bee Vamp" does not buzz so much as it roars in
hard bop trim. A heavy tandem line breaks and separates in the horn parts like
booster rockets. Blackwell is even more amazing, and Dolphy's ribald bass
clarinet set standards that still influences players of the instrument. Where
"The Prophet" is a puckery blues, it is also open armed with minor
phrasings and stretched harmonics. This is where Waldron and Davis shine in
their terra cotta facades of roughly hewn accompaniments to Dolphy and Little's
bold flavored statements.
A
Group also shows a compositional thrust in very dissonant thematic material really
stretching out during long versions of Little's "Aggression" and the
standard "Like Someone in Love." Dolphy's playing -- whether on alto,
bass clarinet, or flute -- always defied categorization, while Little was the
first new voice on the trumpet to emerge after Clifford Brown's death in 1956.
The
vast majority welcomes this incredible concert, as music that changed the jazz
world as much as Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane's innovative excursions of
the same era. All forward thinking and challenged listeners need to own these
epic club dates.
(Review
by Michael G. Nastos)
I
love to pull this one out when I’ve got the house to myself and a few hours
with nothing much to do, and that’s today. It was originally released as three
separate albums (Live at the Five Spot Vol. 1 and 2, and Eric Dolphy Memorial
Album), and then Prestige put out this version in the 70s. It unfortunately
leaves out a wonderful version of “God Bless The Child” that was also played at
this show, which is available elsewhere. Regardless, if you stumble across this
3LPs, it is well worth picking up – it’s a remarkable piece of jazz history and
tremendously enjoyable. An excellent set that records what may have been
Dolphy's finest group ever, as well as one of that era's best working bands.
E
n j o y !!!
If
you find it, buy this album!
