Eric and I Went Out for Lunch

When my Ornette Coleman quest was helped by my professor of English at my community college he told me he would not stop there. He also told me that even though he respected the Jazz professor, he did not like the stuff that created as he put it "to much mess." I told the English professor that the Jazz professor loved Brubeck, but was quick to dismiss the people who literally created a new genre of music. When I got my first Ornette tape as I mentioned in a previous blog, the other side was filled with an album called Out to Lunch.

It was Eric Dolphy's only official album on Blue Note while he was alive. It includes a wonderful cast of musicians. Richard Davis on Bass, Bobby Hutcherson on Vibes, Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet and a young and barely 18 year old Anthony (Tony) Williams on Drums. It was an album that took a lot to digest in a few listens, but it was well worth the effort. I am still fond of the opening song "Hat and Beard." A loose tribute to Monk it plays in 9/4 time. A real fun piece to just try to figure out what Tony Williams is doing.



The song Gazzellioni is a wonderful tribute to the classical flautist Severino Gazzellioni. It's opening part where Hutch is, we believe using a violin bow on his vibes at the same time Eric is on flute. The reason I am not so sure is because a more trusted music professor at my college after the community college had a question on that. He noticed me one day working the college library with my copy of Out To Lunch and asked me a few questions. First was if I am in the music program here. I sadly said no, because I cannot read music. Then the harder question was what is happening on that third track. I gave him my response of violin bow and flute at the same time. He looked at me and told me that is a question for the gods to answer. We became fast friends after I commented on his musical score he was taking out. He happen to have another classic which I have also talked about in this blog. Charles Ives' "Unanswered Question" which is still my favorite piece of classical music.



When I continued listening to this album I really enjoyed the great playing of all the musicians. I mean Tony Williams the young and maturity that he showed on this album I am sure Miles Davis heard the same and wanted him in his next group. Each song has a identity all it's own. Even the last song had this drunken lurch to it. Much has been written about Dolphy's odd time signatures, wide-interval leaps, and flirtations with atonality. And those preoccupations reach their peak on Out to Lunch, which is less rooted in bop tradition than anything Dolphy had ever done. But that sort of analytical description simply doesn't do justice to the utterly alien effect of the album's jagged soundscapes. Dolphy uses those pet devices for their evocative power and unnerving hints of dementia, not some abstract intellectual exercise (AM)

As I listen to it today I still thank that professor for widening the music pallet that I have. It was a great album just to remind how much talent they all had. His creepy, floating chords and quick stabs of dissonance anchor the album's texture, and he punctuates the soloists' lines at the least expected times, suggesting completely different pulses. Meanwhile, Dolphy's stuttering vocal-like effects and oddly placed pauses often make his bass clarinet lines sound like they're tripping over themselves. Just as the title Out to Lunch suggests, this is music that sounds like nothing so much as a mad gleam in its creator's eyes. Eric was a master, but sadly he died of a diabetic coma later that year of 1964. A must have in any collection. Yes it's Jazz but it's the classic Jazz of Eric Dolphy. It will provoke conversation that you even have it in your collection. You should play it for proof that it is one of the best, and are proud to say it kicks ass.