Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography And Discography [Paperback]

Vladimir Simosko (Author), Barry Tepperman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1996

In his tragically short life (1928–1964), Eric Dolphy was a titanic force in the development of the sixties avant-garde (or "new thing") from the hard bop of the late fifties. The searing intensity and sonic exploration of his work on alto sax, clarinets, and flute derived in part from the concurrent innovations of Coltrane, Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Andrew Hill, among others; previous jazz styles such as New Orleans and bop; various non-Western musics; and modern classical music (e.g., Varese). Dolphy pioneered extended solo jazz compositions, was prominent in the "third stream" movement (led by John Lewis and Gunther Schuller), and remains a major influence on musicians today for the personal, speech-like inflections of his playing. Jazz scholars Simosko and Tepperman examine every aspect of this stunning musical achievement from Dolphy's early big band work and association with Chico Hamilton to his own last groups in Europe, emphasizing the rich legacy of his recordings. Now completely updated to include the most recent discoveries concerning his life and recordings, this book will long stand as the definitive treatment of Eric Dolphy's music.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Revised edition (March 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306805243
• ISBN-13: 978-0306805240
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as great as I hoped..., December 31, 2006

By 

Music Thief "Nazo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography And Discography (Paperback)

It's wonderful that there's finally a book on Eric Dolphy...however, from a musician's point of view, this book is just OK. What bothered me the most was when the authors would analyze Dolphy's playing in terms of "weak" and "strong". I am a musician, and have all of the recordings the authors reffered to, and in most cases I disagreed with their evaluations of his playing. Overall, the strongest parts of this book are the non-music related stories about him. But there aren't too many of those...

Overall, this book is fairly good, but if you're buying it only for the discography, be forewarned that it is still a little dated.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ERIC DOLPHY: A Free Singing Bird, October 19, 2005

By 

Richard P. Nadeau (Sacramento, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography And Discography (Paperback)

Eric Dolphy, whom Charles Mingus once called a "saint," claims that when he lived in LA, as a young muscician, he used play his horns with the birds, and that the birds would play back with him. Call it an early form of collective improvisation. A form of "inter-being," as Zen thinkers might designate it. Later, Dolphy focused on marvellous collective free improvisations with other creative early avant-garde jazz muscicians like John Coltrane and Charles Mingus.

This intelligent book, an important second edition of an original 1970 text revised in 1992, emerged out of correspondence between authors Simosko (at the time a curator of Jazz) and Tepperman (a medical doctor), on the relevance of Dolphy's substantial contribution to jazz. An incredible set of indexs of Dolphy performances, discography, and songs follows the text. A must for jazz lovers who will fly to free spaces.

30 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars E Dolphy was my hero. I was at the Wuppertal concert in 64., March 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography And Discography (Paperback)

I have been a professional jazz musician for as long as I remember. But it wasn't untill the concert in 1964 just before Eric Dol;phy died that I became serious in my approach to practice. The concert took place in Wuppertal in Germany with Charles Mingus. Johnny Coles was on Trumpet, Jacky Byard on piano. The others I forget. Danny Richmond on drums. The audience was so jammed into the town hall that everybody was standing for the entire performance. It was such a moving experience that there was almost no applause. This must have been very disturbing to the musicians. At one point Erics Bass Clarinet fell off its stand and he spent no little time examining it to make sure it was ok. The concert was an experience that I will never forget because it quite literaly changed my life. This was because of one tune that Dolphy and Mingus played as an encore , also as a duet on flute and arco bass. This was "what love" So wonderful was this presentation that people where openly crying with emotion. It is perhaps difficult to explain the impact of musicians who can bring about such feelings in an audience. and it is indeed a rare thing to experience within any artistic performance. To listen to artists on record does not do the true greats justice. Suffice to say that for me I became a serious jazz musician from that day forward. People. myself included where still choked up even after leaving the town hall and walking out into the afternoon sunshine. Little did we know how prophetic our tears were because less than one month later Eric Dolphy died in Berlin. I can only owe this wonderful human being, Eric Dolphy a reason and a shape for all of my life. from that day untill whenever. Grahame Rhodes Jazz Musician Sat 13 march 1999