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REVIEW    DownBeat  /  September 28, 1961


Eric Dolphy
Out There

Prestige/New Jazz 8252

★★★½

Rudy Van Gelder Remasters


There is a major revolution now going on in jazz, and Dolphy is obviously one of the most talented, dedicated players of “the new thing.”

This LP shows striking developments in his playing, and at least one track, Feathers, is excellent. Certainly a major improvement is in Dolphy’s bass clarinet work heard here on Serene and Baron, which is far less riddled with bebop clichés than it once was and is now almost as good as his alto. Dolphy’s alto itself has become warmer and, as he wants it to be, more like speech.

The melody of Out There is a bit forced, and both Dolphy, on alto, and Carter get hung up on a single motif in their improvising. Discreetly used, such a device can give order to a solo, of course, but here each man comes rather close to monotony. Both, however, play with commendable freedom on this piece.

Serene a blues line that sounds surprisingly like a 1930s ballad, has excellent work by Duvivier and Carter. Both pizzicato solos are fine melodic creations. Oddly, Carter’s ideas sound both earthier and more musically sophisticated than Duvivier’s.

Baron is for Charlie Mingus and has a Mingus-like melody. Carter’s solo is rhythmically almost fascinating; Dolphy is very good, but about halfway through he again gets hung up on a single idea.

Both Dolphy’s 17 West, a less forcedly far-out melody, and a good one, and Randy Weston’s Melba, with a theme statement that is for me somewhat over-ripe, have Dolphy on flute, and when he applies his ideas to that instrument, he becomes one of the few unclichéd flute players in jazz. On 17 West there also is a recurring motif, but it is effectively written into the piece, and the players must improvise around it. Carter (bowed) is good; Duvivier is lovely. Dolphy and Carter skirt sentimentality for strong lyric melody on Melba.

As I say, Dolphy is most impressive on Feathers. There his increasing warmth is most obvious and most appropriate, and under the general air of double-timing, he actually uses an impressive and exciting variety in rhythm and phrasing. An individuality in rhythm and phrasing is the surest sign of a jazzman’s growing maturity.

Haynes’ participation throughout—and especially his discretion behind the quiet strings—is commendable. —Martin William


Out There: Out There; Serene; The Baron; Eclipse; 17 West; Sketch of Melba; Feathers.
Personnel: Dolphy, alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, B-flat clarinet; Ron Carter, cello; George Duvivier, bass; Roy Haynes, drums.


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