Eric Dolphy

Eric Dolphy
(b Los Angeles, 20 June 1928; d Berlin, 29 June 1964). American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinettist and flautist.

After studying music at Los Angeles City College, he played the alto saxophone in Roy Porter’s band (1948–50). He then served in the US Army for two years, after which he transferred to the US Naval School of Music (1952–3). He returned to Los Angeles and joined Chico Hamilton’s quintet early in 1958. In New York he worked with Charles Mingus’s group (1959–60) and also played freelance a great deal and recorded his first albums as a leader; but thereafter he ceased to work steadily, even as his fame grew. In mid-1961 he led a quintet with the trumpeter Booker Little. He played in Europe on his own and during a brief spell with John Coltrane (to March 1962), then in November 1962 joined John Lewis’s Orchestra U.S.A. He spent the rest of his short career working freelance with Mingus, Lewis and Coltrane, though he also recorded as a leader, including Out to Lunch (1964, BN). He died after a heart attack occasioned by diabetes.

Dolphy was a highly versatile African American musician who played jazz but also performed third-stream music by Gunther Schuller and pieces such as Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 at the Ojai (California) Music Festival in 1962. This close link to 20th-century art music influenced his fondness for dissonant harmonies in jazz. His startling intonation, especially on the alto saxophone, reflected the acknowledged influence of Ornette Coleman, as well as his love of African and Indian music; he also imitated bird calls. As a jazz improviser Dolphy was unrivalled in his ability to leap fluently between traditional and avant-garde idioms. An intense, passionate improviser, he constantly surprised his listeners with his rapid flow of ideas and his unexpected phrasing and intervals. Perhaps his greatest contribution was his exploration of the bass clarinet as a medium for jazz improvisation; What Love, on the album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (1960, Cand.), includes bass clarinet ‘conversations’ with Mingus. A volume of transcriptions of his solos, Dolphy Series Limited (Washington DC, n.d.) has been published by Andrew White.