''The Berlin Concerts'' is a two-LP live album by Eric Dolphy. It was recorded on August 30, 1961, at two separate venues in Berlin, Germany, and was released by

Inner City Records Inner City Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Irv Kratka in 1976 in New York City. The company was a division of Music Minus One and also owned the label Classic Jazz. It started with reissues, then moved on to new recordin ...

and

Enja Records Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Jap ...

in 1978. The album was recorded during Dolphy's second visit to Europe, and documents two Südwestfunk (SWF) sessions. Four of the tracks (" Hot House", "When Lights Are Low", " Hi-Fly", and " I'll Remember April" (mistitled as "I'll Remember You")) were recorded at the Club Jazz Salon. The remaining tracks ("G.W." (mistitled as "Geewee"), " God Bless the Child", and "245" (mistitled as "The Meeting")) were recorded at the Funkturm Exhibition Hall. The recordings feature Dolphy on alto sax, bass clarinet, and flute,

Benny Bailey Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey (August 13, 1925 – April 14, 2005) was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Bailey briefly studied flute and piano before turning to trumpet. He attended the Cleveland Conserva ...

on trumpet, Pepsi Auer on piano, George Joyner on bass, and Buster Smith on drums.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Scott Yanow wrote: "This two-LP set features the great multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy mostly stretching out on standards, coming up with very original statements... With trumpeter Benny Bailey helping out on half of the selections along with a strong rhythm section, the two-fer would be a perfect introduction for listeners not familiar with Eric Dolphy's innovative style, but this set is very difficult to find." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' awarded the album 3 stars, and stated that it is "poignant as a first sign of Dolphy 'going single', working the more open European scene with pick-up bands. This one was better than most, not just because Bailey's tense, boppish sound occasionally recalls ookerLittle, but also because Auer and Smith lean hard on the beat and push things along briskly... A curiosity, and a significant one in the foreshortened Dolphy canon, but certainly not one for casual buyers." Critic Robert Christgau described the album as "two astonishing sides and two more than adequate ones," and praised "Hot House," calling it "a fluent, unselfconscious synthesis of bebop and 'free jazz' that sounds entirely up-to-the-minute in 1979." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

s Lester Bans remarked: "The unearthing of ''The Berlin Concerts'' is a god-send because these tapes were made at the height of olphy'spowers... what comes across throughout this set... is the warmth and intimacy of those rich, jugular vocalisms. Ornette Coleman may have been closer to the spawning barnyard and John Coltrane may have cornered the fire sermon for all time, but Eric Dolphy was the sparrow's heart, pulsing in the briefest of springs."

Track listing

Disc 1

# " Hot House" (

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swin ...

) – 19:01 # "When Lights Are Low" (

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

) – 13:00 # "G.W." (mistitled as "Geewee") (Dolphy) – 2:47

Disc 2

# " God Bless the Child" (

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

Arthur Herzog Jr. Arthur Herzog Jr. (December 13, 1900 in New York City – September 1, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan) was a songwriter and composer. Career Herzog was most known for work with Billie Holiday. He co-wrote several jazz Jazz is a music genre tha ...

) – 3:25 # " Hi-Fly" (

Randy Weston Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection. Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious ...

) – 14:36 # "245" (mistitled as "The Meeting") (Dolphy) – 5:35 # " I'll Remember April" (mistitled as "I'll Remember You") ( Gene de Paul) – 13:08

Personnel

* Eric Dolphy – alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute *

– trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 6, and 7) * Pepsi Auer – piano (tracks 1, 3, 6, and 7) * George Joyner – bass (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7) * Buster Smith – drums (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin Concerts 1978 live albums Eric Dolphy live albums