Customer Reviews

Illinois Concert

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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."

A Music fan from Toronto must be listening to another CD because my copy of the Illinois Concert is spectacular. Before the commercial issue, I had this on bootleg and the sound quality was really fine, but Bluenote has even improved upon that. As far as the music is concerned, it is fantastic. Case closed!

Given the brevity of Eric Dolphy's career, and the small number of albums released under his own name during his lifetime, it's not surprising that posthumously-issued live recordings form a considerable chunk of the reedsman's titanic legacy. Many such offerings are of bootleg quality, poorly recorded and/or edited, while others feature somewhat lacklustre performances as Dolphy tries to find common ground with one of the many pick-up rhythm sections with which he played.
This makes THE ILLINOIS CONCERT an even more welcome and important find than it would be otherwise. Superbly recorded for the most part, and featuring primarily Dolphy's own works, this 1963 performance also finds the leader in the invigorating and sympathetic company of his true musical peers.
With bassist Eddie Khan and drummer JC Moses, who would soon play on Dolphy's envelope-pushing "Iron Man" sessions, holding things together, there's no poking around for a beat here. Even more significantly, THE ILLINIOS CONCERT is one of only two known recordings featuring Dolphy's sometime pianist Herbie Hancock, then in the first glow of his own jazz celebrity and soon to join Miles Davis - and therefore necessarily un-join Dolphy - as a full-time sideman. If this sounds like a formidable foursome, it is, and one extremely well-matched to the material at hand.
That material opens with a twenty-minute evisceration of "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," featuring Dolphy's spine-tingling bass clarinet work, then segues through a brief segment of "Something Sweet, Something Tender" (Dolphy's own composition, which he would record a year later on OUT TO LUNCH) and the inevitable solo "God Bless the Child." Switching to flute, the Maestro tackles another original number, "South Street Exit," which unfortunately suffers from insufficient miking and therefore serves as more of a showcase for the rhythm section than the leader himself. "Iron Man," here in its developmental stage, brings in Dolphy's blistering alto saxophone for the finale of the quartet segment, after which a full orchestra joins the group for two more Dolphy classics, "Red Planet" (a.k.a. "Miles' Mode") and "GW." Both are handled quite well, and provide interesting examples of Dolphy's underexplored scoring skills as well as his evergreen sax chops.
Apart from the 1961 Five Spot concert and 1964's mistitled LAST DATE, I can't think of another live Dolphy recording which manages to attain a finer balance of material, players and ("South Street Exit" excepted) sound quality than this one. Highly recommended and, dare I say it, damned good!

An excellent CD overall. I didn't have any problem with the recording quality- Blue Note did a passable job remastering. Not spectacular, mind you, but all the instruments are audible and able to be clearly heard and differentiated. It was far better than I had expected from reading the online reviews. The material itself is well performed, and Dolphy, as always, is incendiary on any of his instruments. If you don't have any other live Dolphy, this is a particularly interesting set to start with. I hadn't expected Herbie Hancock's presence to be as significant as it is, but Hancock lends the quartet a pile driving forward momentum. His accompaniment and solos and inspired throughout, and the rhythm section is talented enough to give the Dolphy/Hancock duo a base to jump into their affecting avant-swing.

This album is one of the best I have ever heard. If all musicians had the same shameless approach as the musicians on this recording the world would be a wonderful place. The flute may not cut through on 'South Street Exit' but the energy of the performance more than makes up for it. So what if the recording qaulity isn't top notch, that is of secondary importance. I would rather listen to some poorly recorded Dolphy than some nicely recorded Metheny.Anyone who gave this one star must like Johnny Lang or something. A must have.

A most stimulating experience for the senses, from start to finish, Illinois concert is beautiful. Quickly we become immersed in the sounds of Eric Dolphy with the first composition--tweny-minutes of freedom between Eric with his bass clarinet. This concert is essential for two reasons: firstly, Eric makes clear what our human capacity is for expression in art during the early sixties in a time of strife. Secondly, God Bless the Child should be heard by anyone with the willingness to feel. I hope you all get the privelege to know Eric's ideas some day.

This concert is easily comparable with Coltrane's Village Vanguard concerts which include Dolphy. I wonder why the Illinois Concert wasn't released much earlier. Dolphy's co-musicians are amazing, and Dolphy itself is showing everything he is able to show. Which is a lot. He plays the bass clarinet (song 3 is a wonderful unaccompanied piece), the flute (song 4), and the alto sax. The last two songs feature a brass section and a full big band. The song with the brass section is actually known as "Miles Mode" and it was widely believed that it was written by John Coltrane. Dolphy and Coltrane played this song at the Village Vanguard and it seems to be obvious that actually Dolphy wrote it. Anyway, if you like Coltrane's Village Vanguard concerts, this CD is a must.

I am enlightened to learn that Eddie Kahn was the bassist for this fantastic March 10, 1963 concert. (A public library copy of this CD, whose documentation was missing when I borrowed it, has so far been my sole access to it.) The Simosko/Tepperman discography lists Richard Davis.