Illinois Concert [Live]

Eric Dolphy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 5, 1999)
• Original Release Date: October 5, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B00001IVKW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,809 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dolphy is truly a giant!, December 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Illinois Concert (Audio CD)

Well this CD is truly splendid. Dolphy has used quartets for most of his career, but this is the first time i've heard him with Herbie Hancock. I've always felt that for jazz improv to work you need great sidemen to support your solos. This CD is a fine example of the hard work dedicated musicians can display in one evening! I can't help but mention the 5-Spot live sessions Dolphy has released on 4 other CD's. This Illinois concert surpasses those which I thought were insurmountable. Dolphy in the studio seems more restrained to me. Live is where he seemed to thrive! My only regret with this Illinois show is the production values are not up to the standards we come to expect from Blue Note. Most jazz fans have decent stereos so a little fine tuning on the tone controls or an equalizer is very worthwhile. Please do yourself right and buy this CD. if you've never heard Dolphy, this is where to begin, if you have heard Dolphy before it is time to rediscover! This concert will change your life!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat guilty pleasure (unless you're a bass clarinetist), January 3, 2003

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Illinois Concert (Audio CD)

Since I was a student in attendance at these events, I was at first incredulous to learn that a recording had been released nearly 40 years later. Dolphy has become somewhat of a cult figure among young listeners, and my familiarity with the circumstances of the recording has even "put me in good" with my son. Eric's stay was a two-day affair during which he performed with the jazz band, participated in a panel discussion and, most notably, gave a concert with the rhythm section he had brought for the occasion. The Illinois campus at that time was witness to an explosion of young musical talent (Cecil Bridgewater, Ron DeWar, Donny Heitler, Jim Knapp, Kim Richmond, Fred Atwood, George Marsh), so Dolphy was pretty much assured of an attentive and appreciative audience. He was extremely polite, affable, and I think quite flattered to be the featured "star" under such circumstances.

As for the concert itself, I was struck by the degree to which Hancock (who looked all of 18) appeared to be the man in charge, even though the piano was undermiked and difficult to hear (the previous reviewer's reference to his smooth, "feathery" touch is very much on target). Therefore, it's a revelation to hear the prominence of the instrument on this recording which, if anything, foregrounds the sound of the piano ahead of Dolphy's bass clarinet. Herbie's solos and accompaniment are free form and polytonal but at the same time curiously unengaging, especially in the company of Moses and Khan (whatever happened to this strong, gifted bassist?). The latter two would have been excellent stand-ins in a 1950s Miles Davis group, whereas Herbie, with the exception of his tendency here to fill too much of the space, clearly anticipates the abstract style that would be the hallmark of Miles' 1960s quintet.

As for Dolphy himself, he lives up to the legend, once again demonstrating that on bass clarinet he was and is without peer. Particularly striking is his ability to construct "antiphonal" solos, using the lowest register of the instrument to create intricate statements that are followed instantly by counterstatements in the altissimo register. And when he has an opportunity to play an unaccompanied cadenza, the effect is so "tonal" as to be stunning.

Within months of the Champaign-Urbana concert, I went to McKee's Show Lounge on Chicago's south side to catch Coltrane. Since there was no room for a piano on the small bandstand inside the bar area, John had brought Dolphy along as a replacement for McCoy Tyner. If only some recording of that session would suddenly materialize!

My rating of this recording is admittedly a trifle inflated, unless you're an Eric Dolphy fan, a bass clarinetist--or in my case, one of life's much-traveled pilgrims surprised once again at running into his past.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and worthwhile but not his best, April 4, 2001

By 

Tyler Smith (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Illinois Concert (Audio CD)

While I certainly don't buy the review panning this CD, I can't really subscribe to the Amazon review's breathless praise either. I was very excited when the CD originally came out and bought it shortly after its release. After repeated listenings, I feel it's a mild disappointment, but it's certainly of high musical quality and of more than simple historical interest.

The obvious interest -- aside from the mere fact that it was a new Dolphy release -- lay in the surprising pairing of Dolphy with Hancock. The two had very different musical styles; Hancock, at 23, fit very easily into the Blue Note mainstream, post-bop stable, while Dolphy was one of jazz's most controversial figures, lionized by some and lambasted by others.

I think one of the reviewers criticized the quality of the recording. I don't agree with that, but I do think that the arrangements were muddled, and in general the concert, for me anyway, generates far less excitement than the "Live at the Five Spot" recordings Dolphy made with Booker Little, Ed Blackwell, Richard Davis and Mal Waldron.

I also feel that there are better "takes" of some of the tunes on other Dolphy releases. For example, the solo "God Bless the Child" was a standard for him and I don't hear much that's new in this performance. For me, the essential performance of that tune was on the old Prestige twofer "Copenhagen Concert," and nothing in this performance adds to that one. "Red Planet," recorded by Coltrane under the title "Miles' Mode," has a drifting sound that is disconcerting for me when I compare it to the urgency of the Coltrane version. But that aside, Dolphy played this tune often with Coltrane and with greater power and lyricism than he displays here. The Amazon review seemed particularly knocked out by "Softly in a Morning Sunrise," but for me it's an avant-garde approach to a tune that really doesn't lend itself to it. The simple lyricism of the original is lost and the arrangement has a meandering quality to it that doesn't engage me.

As for the pairing with Hancock, the difficulty is that while each player has his share of wonderful moments, stylistically they don't quite mesh for me. Hancock's strength then -- and now -- lay in his ability to seemingly suspend time with his floating chords and feathery right-hand touch. Dolphy's tone, even on flute, was biting, his approach fiery and intense. Finding a pianist to accompany him was difficult -- he sometimes recorded without one -- and Hancock's subtle backing gets lost at times when Dolphy is searing through a solo.

If you're a big Dolphy fan, by all means pick up the CD. You'll find plenty of moments of inspiration. If you're beginning to build your collection, however, I'd get the live Five Spot releases and the studio sessions that provided some of the material for this concert, including "Last Date" and "Iron Man."