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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. His only recording on Blue Note as a leader, it was issued as BLP 4163 and BST 84163. Featuring Dolphy in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Tony Williams, it is considered by critics as one of the finest albums issued on Blue Note and one of the high points of 1960s avant-garde jazz. The album cover designed by Reid Miles features a photo of a "Will Be Back" sign displayed in a shop window showing a seven-handed clock.
Background
Dolphy declared "Everyone's a leader in this session", and he was fortunate to be joined by four sympathetic musicians, three of whom had previously performed and recorded with him. Freddie Hubbard had roomed with Dolphy when they both first arrived in New York, and was featured on '' Outward Bound'' (1960), Dolphy's first album as a leader. Dolphy and Hubbard also appeared together on Ornette Coleman's 1960 album ''
Free Jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
''. Bobby Hutcherson had participated in the July 1963 recording sessions that produced the Dolphy albums ''
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
'' and '' Conversations''. Dolphy expressed his excitement regarding the opportunity to work with Hutcherson again, stating: "Bobby's vibes have a freer, more open sound than a piano. Pianos seem to control you, Bobby's vibes seems to open you up."
Bassist Richard Davis had also participated in the July 1963 sessions, during which he recorded a number of duets with Dolphy ("Come Sunday", "Ode to Charlie Parker", and "Alone Together"). Davis was also the bassist on Dolphy and
Booker Little
Booker Little Jr. (April 2, 1938 – October 5, 1961) – accessed June 2010 was an American
’s dates at the Five Spot in 1961. One reviewer stated that the pair "had one of the more meaningful connections in jazz; they communicated almost telepathically, as if completing each other's thoughts." Dolphy commented: "Richard doesn't play the usual bass lines. He plays rhythm with his lines. He leads you somewhere else." Drummer Tony Williams, listed as "Anthony Williams" on the album, had turned 18 in December 1963, and was a member of
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
' quintet at the time of the ''Out to Lunch!'' recording session. Regarding Williams, Dolphy stated: "Tony doesn't play time, he plays pulse." Dolphy biographers Vladimir Simosko and Barry Tepperman praised the musical chemistry of this group, observing that "the other musicians match and support olphy'sconception with a truly fantastic sense of freedom and interplay."
Roughly a month after the ''Out to Lunch!'' session, Dolphy, Davis, and Williams participated in the recording of Andrew Hill's '' Point of Departure''. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Europe following the completion of a European tour with Charles Mingus: "Why? Because I can get more work there playing my own music, and because if you try to do anything different in this country, people put you down for it." Dolphy died from a
diabetic coma
Diabetic coma is a life-threatening but reversible form of coma found in people with diabetes mellitus.
Three different types of diabetic coma are identified:
#Severe diabetic hypoglycemia, low blood sugar in a diabetic person
#Diabetic ketoac ...
in
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
on June 29, 1964, at the age of 36.
Music
The title of the album's first track, "Hat and Beard", refers to Thelonious Monk, about whom Dolphy stated: "He's so musical no matter what he's doing, even if he's just walking around." The piece features wild bass clarinet playing, and contains a percussive interlude featuring Williams and Hutcherson. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" also features Dolphy on bass clarinet, and includes a scored duet between Dolphy and Davis on bowed bass. Dolphy commented: "The group got just the lyrical feeling that I wanted, and, taking it out, Richard and I really got together in the unison duet." The third composition, "Gazzelloni", which showcases some of Dolphy's most advanced flute work, is named for classical flautist Severino Gazzelloni, under whom Dolphy had studied the instrument. This track features the album's most conventional
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...
-based theme; Dolphy noted that "Everybody holds to the construction for the first 13 bars, then - freedom."
The second side features two long pieces with Dolphy on alto saxophone. On the title track, the pulse is implied rather than being stated explicitly, which lends a sense of freedom. Dolphy commented: "Notice Tony. He doesn't play time, he plays. Even though the rhythm section breaks the time up, there's a basic pulse coming from inside the tune. That's the pulse the musicians have to play." The final track, "Straight Up and Down", was intended to evoke a drunken stagger. Dolphy's solo contains swaggering, voice-like lines on which he employs multiphonics and smears. Regarding the group's contribution, he stated: "It gasses me that everyone was so free. I wanted a free date to begin with. All rhythm sections are different, but this one was really open..."
In late 2013, two previously unissued performances were released on Toshiba EMI TYCJ-81013 in Japan. These are alternate takes of the two bass clarinet tunes "Hat and Beard", and "Something Sweet, Something Tender".
Critical reception
'' The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' selected ''Out to Lunch!'' as part of its suggested "Core Collection" and awarded it a "crown", stating, "If it is a masterpiece, then it is not so much a flawed as a slightly tentative masterpiece." The album was identified by Chris Kelsey in his
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
essay "Free Jazz: A Subjective History" as one of the "20 Essential
Free Jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
Albums".
Writer Martin Williams stated that on ''Out to Lunch!'', "we hear a full development of olphy'stalent, in its five, finely crafted compositions, and in his equally well-conceived solos." In a review for AllMusic, Steve Huey described the album as Dolphy's "magnum opus, an absolute pinnacle of avant-garde jazz in any form or era. Its rhythmic complexity was perhaps unrivaled since Dave Brubeck's '' Time Out'', and its five Dolphy originals... were a perfect balance of structured frameworks, carefully calibrated timbres, and generous individual freedom." Writing for ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
'', Brian Morton described ''Out to Lunch!'' as "Dolphy's most adventurous album and his most self consistent attempt at freedom within some, at least of the confines established by bop writing." Morton praised Dolphy's playing, deeming him "an instant composer rather than a strict improviser."
Kevin Whitehead, writing for NPR, referred to ''Out to Lunch!'' as Dolphy's "masterpiece", stating: "Half a century later it still sounds crazy in a good way. The organized mayhem starts with Dolphy's tunes, often featuring wide, wide leaps in the melody and ratchet-gear rhythms...in time you could hear its influence in Anthony Braxton's or Roscoe Mitchell's zigzag solos and odd timbres, in David Murray's yawping bass clarinet and Jason Adasiewicz's clanking vibes. You can also hear it in ambitious music by all sorts of modern composers who grapple with the same kind of contradictions Dolphy did." In an essay for Jazz History Online, Thomas Cunniffe wrote that ''Out to Lunch!'' "was an effort to break our expectations about the very nature of jazz", and stated that "In addition to dispelling the notion that improvised solos should maintain the mood of the melody, Dolphy called for his sidemen to rethink their preconceived notions about improvisation", noting that "Dolphy and company re-examined the very framework of this music."
Trevor Maclaren described ''Out to Lunch!'' as "one of the finest records of its kind" and "easily at the caliber of '' A Love Supreme'' and '' The Shape of Jazz to Come''". He stated that "Dolphy shows himself as solid bandleader and arranger who opens up plenty of room for his players. Much in the ideology of his fellow avant-garde players, the solos exude experiment. Yet Dolphy's control is masterful and no matter how far out he gets, you can feel his passion and know his path has been well articulated." Greg Simmons of ''
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 ...
'' called the album "undeniably brilliant" and "an essential watershed in the jazz canon, representing a creative peak for the soon-to-be-gone Dolphy". He praised Dolphy's bass clarinet playing on the opening track as "as complete a statement of musical independence—from fashion, commercial concerns, and tradition—as is likely to be found."
Track listing
All compositions by Eric Dolphy.
#"Hat and Beard" – 8:24
#"Something Sweet, Something Tender" – 6:02
#"Gazzelloni" – 7:22
#"Out to Lunch" – 12:06
#"Straight Up and Down" – 8:19
Bonus tracks on 2013 Japanese limited SHM-CD:
# "Hat and Beard (alternate take)" – 8:35
# "Something Sweet, Something Tender (alternate take)" – 5:42
bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, 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 no ...
,
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
vibraphone
The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...
double bass
The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...