Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions

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Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions
Studio album by Eric Dolphy

Publication
(s)

2018

Label (s) Resonance Records

Format (s)

3 LP, 3 CD, download

Genre (s)

jazz

running time

188

occupation

production

Alan Douglas; Zev Feldman , James Newton

Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions is a jazz album featuring music by Eric Dolphy . The recordings were made on July 1, 1963 (duets with Davis) and July 3, 1963 (sextets, nonet) in New York City. In addition to the two previously released Dolphy albums Conversations (FM Records, 1963) and Iron Man (Douglas, 1968), the edition contains previously unreleased studio material from this session. It was first released on November 23, 2018 on Resonance Records in collaboration with the Eric Dolphy Trust and the Alan Douglas Estate.

background

The recordings for Douglas Records were made in early July 1963 after Eric Dolphy had ended his contract with Prestige / New Jazz Records , and six months before he released his album Out to Lunch! for Blue Note Records . Responsible was the producer Alan Douglas, who produced the album Money Jungle the year before with Duke Ellington , Charles Mingus and Max Roach and later became known through his collaboration with Jimi Hendrix . Dolphy gave the tapes with the additional takes of the Douglas session in a suitcase along with personal documents to his close friends Hale and Juanita Smith before he set out on his second tour with Charles Mingus to Europe in 1964. Years later, the contents of the suitcase were passed on to flautist James Newton , who was friends with his mentor Hale Smith and his wife Juanita in the late 1970s. In 2015, Newton got in touch with Resonance producer Zev Feldman , after which, in collaboration with the Eric Dolphy Trust in Los Angeles, the release of the 1963 Dolphy studio session was prepared. The tapes were copied from the master tape in mono and are the only existing documents of the recordings (unpublished until 2018).

Track list

LP 1: Conversations

  1. Jitterbug Waltz ( Fats Waller ) 7:05
  2. Music Matador (Prince Lasha, Sonny Simmons) 9:05
  3. Love Me ( Victor Young ) 13:30
  4. Alone Together ( Arthur Schwartz ) 3:25
  5. Muses for Richard Davis (Previously Unissued 1)
  6. Muses for Richard Davis (Previously Unissued 2)

LP 2: Iron Man

  1. Iron man (dolphy)
  2. Mandrake (Dolphy)
  3. Come Sunday (Dolphy)
  4. Burning Spear (Dolphy)
  5. Ode to Charlie Parker ( Jaki Byard )
  6. A Personal Statement ( Bob James )

LP 3: Previously Unissued Studio Recordings

  1. Music Matador (Alternate Take)
  2. Love Me (Alternate Take 1)
  3. Love Me (Alternate Take 2)
  4. Alone Together (Alternate Take)
  5. Jitterbug Waltz (Alternate Take)
  6. Mandrake (Alternate Take)
  7. Burning Spear (Alternate Take)

Editorial notes

The edition includes a 100-page book with photos by Chuck Stewart, Jean-Pierre Leloir, Val Wilmer and others. a., essays by Robin DG Kelley, the Douglas manager Michael Lemesre, the musician Masakazu Sato and the co-producers Zev Feldman and James Newton, supplemented by quotes from John Coltrane , McCoy Tyner , Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus as well as interviews with Sonny Rollins , Sonny Simmons , Richard Davis , Henry Threadgill , Nicole Mitchell , Steve Coleman , David Murray , Bill Laswell , Oliver Lake , Han Bennink , Joe Chambers , Dave Liebman and Marty Ehrlich .

reception

For Ted Panken, the box allows a “comprehensive deep dive” into the “Documentation of Dolphy's evolving acoustic vision”, which was made with the 1963 recordings. The duets with bassist Richard Davis were among the highlights of the edition. When comparing the two versions of Alone Together , the hitherto unpublished version of the melody is said to be a “straighter” reading of the melody than the already known version, in which Dolphy delimits the edges with independently presented multiphonics and harmony sounds; but both are masterpieces of a “mutual intuition and chance encounter”. Overall, however, it becomes clear that Dolphy was "primarily an ardent music poet, an inflamed, jubilant spirit devoted to the creation of beauty."

In London Jazz News, Geoff Winston praised the extraordinary sound quality and the precision that brings subtle details to light. The author particularly praises the duets Dolphys on bass clarinet with bassist Richard Davis in the previously unreleased Muses for Richard Davis and the powerful, deeply emotional and spiritual interpretation of Alone Together . His solo on the alto saxophone in Love Me is reminiscent of Coleman Hawkins ' pioneering work with the first unaccompanied tenor saxophone solo in Picasso from 1948 from Norman Granz 's compilation The Jazz Scene . Also impressive are the ensemble pieces, Dolphy's ability to put groups together and to find a compositional language for them. Also superb are the achievements of the only 18-year-old trumpeter Woody Shaw and the ethereal qualities of Bobby Hutcherson's vibraphone playing , who acts with great sensitivity. The great collection forms the bridge between the albums Out There , Outward Bound and Out to Lunch! , Dolphy's last studio recording under his own name. It is a pleasure to hear the pieces in this freshness, which draws attention to Dolphy's extraordinary talents and his playing.

Jeff Krow also pointed out "the excellent fidelity of these vinyl releases". He took great pleasure in comparing the alternative recordings from both sessions, which were collected on the third LP, “with the previous versions, especially with those of Music Matador and Jitterbug Waltz .” Dan McClenaghan, the reviewer of All About Jazz , emphasizes that especially the previously unpublished contributions on the third LP are "all more than worthy" to be included in Dolphy's celebration. Stuart Nicholson is optimistic that this edition will help to re-emphasize Dolphy's role as a key figure and to reassess “his unique contribution to jazz”.

The magazine Jazz thing sees the "fantastically beautiful box" as a "must for all Dolphy friends". For the audio magazine , too, it is “a worthwhile package, if only because it is an opportunity to deal with the almost forgotten genius at the limit of free play”. In the NPR's Jazz Critics Poll , the album came third in the Rare Avis category .

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Resonance Records to Release Dolphy Set with 85 Minutes of Previously Unheard Music. October 10, 2018, accessed October 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Bonus track, recorded at WUOM Studios in Ann Arbor on March 2, 1964 with Dolphy and Bob James, Ron Brooks (bass), Robert Pozar (percussion) and David Schwartz (vocals)
  3. ↑ The five essays deal with different aspects of Eric Dolphy and the music of the album: The co-producers Zev Feldman and James Newtons report on how this album came about and on the meaning of Dolphy's music. Jazz researcher Robin DG Kelley provides the historical context of these recordings. Japanese Dolphy researcher Masakazu Sato tells us about the impact of Dolphys in Japan, while Douglas label manager Michael Lemesre describes the role of Alan Douglas in these recordings and his relationship with Dolphy.
  4. ↑ Ted Panken The Lost Eric Dolphy Tapes from 1963 qwest.tv
  5. ↑ Geoff Winston: LP REVIEW: Eric Dolphy - Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions. London Jazz News, November 19, 2018, accessed November 21, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Jeff Krow meeting in Audiophile Audition
  7. ↑ Meeting (AllAboutJazz)
  8. ↑ Stuart Nicholson Eric Dolphy - Conversations With the Unseen Jazzwise 236/2018
  9. ↑ Jazz thing, February / March 2019
  10. ↑ Audio, March 2019
  11. ^ Francis Davis: The 2018 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. National Public Radio, January 5, 2019, accessed March 24, 2019 .