''The Illinois Concert '' is a live

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

recording of a concert by

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gai ...

, released in 1999 by

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

. The album was recorded on March 10, 1963, at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

and features Dolphy with pianist

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

, bassist

Eddie Khan Eddie Khan (born 1935, died 1985 or 1986) was an American jazz bassist who worked extensively with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard and Andrew Hill. Allmusic credits/ref> Discography As sideman * Bill Barron: ''Modern Windows Suite'' (Sav ...

, and drummer

J.C. Moses JC may refer to: Airlines *JC International Airlines, Cambodia *Japan Air Commuter (IATA code: JC) * JAL Express (1998–2014; IATA: JC), Japan *Rocky Mountain Airways (1965–1991; IATA: JC), United States Arts and media * "JC" (song), a 1996 s ...

. (Hancock would go on to join

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

Quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

roughly two months later.) The quartet is joined by the University of Illinois Brass Ensemble for one track, and by the University of Illinois Big Band for the final track. The tape of the concert, which was recorded for radio broadcast, did not surface until 1999, when it was mentioned in a chat room and was eventually brought to the attention of

Michael Cuscuna Michael Cuscuna (born September 20, 1949 in Stamford, Connecticut, United States) is an American jazz record producer and writer. He is the co-founder of Mosaic Records and a discographer of Blue Note Records. Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and ...

. Dolphy's Illinois trip was probably rushed, given that he recorded with

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

in New York on March 8 and 11.

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 databas ...

, Ken Dryden called the album "one of the finds of the decade" and wrote that "Dolphy's playing is consistently rewarding". He awarded the album 4.5 stars and praised it as "Highly recommended!" Writing for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', David Dacks stated that the album is "a must for passionate Eric Dolphy fans" and noted that the music performed with the University of Illinois players "represents one of the very few times Dolphy arranged and recorded for a large ensemble under his leadership." He concluded: "This is not the best Dolphy record available, but even casual fans will love the especially high calibre of Dolphy's playing." The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''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 by ...

'' wrote: "this belated release is a key step in building a more complete picture of Dolphy's foreshortened development." John Sharpe, writing for ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'', declared that the album "represents a major addition to the Dolphy discography", and thanked Blue Note for "unearthing this long-buried treasure!" Doug Ramsey wrote that Dolphy's playing is "strong medicine for many listeners in a time when homogenization, rather than individuality, wins the prize" and praised the bass clarinet introduction to "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise", stating that it "puts into a neat and irresistible package instrumental mastery, rhythmic urgency, audacious interval leaps, tonal refraction, humor and a speech-inflected delivery emblematic of the individuality that is the one attribute shared by the best jazz musicians."

Track listing

# " Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" ( O. Hammerstein, S. Romberg) – 20:17 # "Something Sweet, Something Tender" (Dolphy) – 1:28 # " God Bless The Child" ( B. Holiday, A. Herzog Jr.) – 8:45 # "South Street Exit" (Dolphy) – 7:30 # "Iron Man" (Dolphy) – 10:57 # "Red Planet" (Dolphy) – 12:26 # "G.W." (Dolphy) – 7:40

Personnel

* Eric Dolphy –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

– piano *

– drums * University of Illinois Brass Ensemble on "Red Planet" * University of Illinois Big Band on "G.W."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Concert, The Eric Dolphy live albums 1999 live albums Blue Note Records live albums