Results for "Eric Dolphy"

Eric Dolphy

Born: June 20, 1928

Eric Allan Dolphy was a jazz musician who played alto saxophone, flute and bass clarinet.

Dolphy was one of several groundbreaking jazz alto players to rise to prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists; he is arguably the greatest jazz improviser on either instrument. On early recordings, he occasionally played traditional B-flat soprano clarinet. His improvisational style was characterized by a near volcanic flow of ideas, utilizing wide intervals based largely on the 12-tone scale, in addition to using an array of animal- like effects which almost made his instruments speak. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos had a logic uncharacteristic of many other free jazz musicians of the day; even as such, he was definitively avant-garde. In the years after his death his music was more aptly described as being "too out to be in and too in to be out."

Julius Hemphill: Marty Ehrlich and Tim Berne Remember a Musical Visionary

by Dave Kaufman
September 20, 2026

Julius Hemphill, a brilliant alto saxophonist and extraordinary composer, was a towering figure in avant-garde jazz and creative music. Yet his body of work remains surprisingly little known, even among aficionados of this sort of adventurous music. Hemphill's music demonstrated a deep feeling for the blues and other African American traditions. His creative vision extended well ...

Tommy Muellner: Solitary Moon

by Mark Corroto
September 15, 2026

Today's hipster jazz musicians do not play standards. Perhaps “poseur" is a better description for artists who deliberately eschew classic compositions. Yet standards and familiar songs serve an important purpose in jazz: they provide a shared musical language, a lingua franca through which musicians communicate and listeners can measure the quality of an interpretation. Maybe, just ...

Geof Bradfield / Myra Melford / Ben Goldberg / Dana Hall: Open Or Close

by Dan McClenaghan
September 5, 2026

Ornette Coleman may come to mind at the beginning of the spin of Open Or Close. This is understandable. The title song, which opens the set, is from Coleman's pen. Additionally, the jazz collective at work here--reedmen Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg, pianist Myra Melford and drummer Dana Hall play loose and free, à la Ornette, ...

Charlie Haden: Anatomy of a Jazz Classic

by John Ephland
August 31, 2026

It was a phoner from the suburban Chicago offices of DownBeat to bassist Charlie Haden in L.A. Our talk, which was held on September 15, 1991, was periodically interrupted by his needing to say, “Hold on one second." The occasion? The 30th anniversary of the release of saxophonist Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking LP Free Jazz: A Collective ...

Reimagining Panama's Musical And Cultural Narratives Of Jazz

by Ian Patterson
August 6, 2026

Reimagining Panama's Musical And Cultural Narratives Of Jazz Patricia Zarate de Perez 203 Pages ISBN: 9781793621832 Lexington Books 2026 A young but precocious music, jazz thrust its way into almost every corner of the planet in double time, shaping and, in turn, being shaped by every culture it has ...

Jeff Lederer: There's a Yearnin'

by Jerome Wilson
July 19, 2026

Jazz and classical music have been intersecting for decades. One of the most prominent examples of this was the Third Stream movement of the sixties, where composers and musicians like Gunther Schuller and John Lewis encouraged the efforts of jazz musicians who wanted to experiment in the world of classical music. The music created through the movement ...

Marion Brown: Live in Europe 1968 & 1972

by Mark Corroto
June 29, 2026

There was not much room in the crowded landscape of the 1960s avant-garde for everyone to receive equal attention. Critics and listeners alike gravitated toward the towering presence of John Coltrane, whose music dominated both record sales and jazz journalism. As a result, visionary figures such as Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler and Marion Brown often found ...

Sam Norris: Wood/Gold - Solo Saxophone Volume 1

by Jack Kenny
June 23, 2026

This is music where you need to embrace the journey, not the destination: The music might not have a clear beginning, middle, and end in the traditional sense; enjoying the moment-to-moment unfolding of sounds and ideas is the purpose. Sometimes the act of listening to a saxophone is rewarded because the musician wants to ...

Tribute to Abdullah Ibrahim aka Dollar Brand; RIP Walt Parazaider; New Music From Audrey Ochoa, Chris Potter, and Others

by David W. Daniels
June 23, 2026

In addition to the tribute to Abdullah Ibrahim and music from the artists mentioned in the title, the show includes recently released music from Helen Sung, Dawn Clement, Chris Hazelton, and others. Birthday recognition for Erroll Garner, Tom Harrell, Marcus Miller, and more.Playlist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya “Duke 88" from African River (Enja) 00:00 ...