Customer Reviews

Iron Man

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

 

 

For me this is Dolphy's best album and one of the great albums ever. Somehow this never got the recognition that Out To Lunch and others have. It certainly should be reissued. The compositions are Dolphy's best on one single album (with Out to Lunch a close second).
I disagree with the comment that there is discordance. There is dissonance -- a beautiful and heartfelt kind of dissonance. The whole ensemble is great. (BTW, this must have been one of Woody Shaw's and Bobby Hutcherson's first recordings. Hutcherson in particular shines.) However Dolphy's solos, arrangements and compositions are the highpoints.
This album is so original and timeless even by Dolphy's standards. All tracks are moving, but "Burning Spear" is a masterpiece that gets to me everytime - it really evokes a primal state.
If you are a Dolphy fan, or want to hear music that is the opposite of generic, track this one down.

There's not much I can add to the earlier reviews. This is top-drawer Dolphy with fine support, especially from Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw and Richard Davis. Dolphy was one of the great individualists, and it's no wonder that Coltrane, Ornette and Mingus all saw fit to draw on his talents. One note: as you may have gleaned from the reviews, the track listing above is actually from a different Dolphy disc, "Conversation." The correct tracks on this disc are "Iron Man," "Mandrake," "Come Sunday," "Burning Spear," and "Ode to C.P."

Whilst I'd undoubtedly stick Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" somewhere on a "Desert Island Discs" list, if need be, I don't think "Iron Man" would be too far behind. In fact, when push comes to shove, I think I'd have to rate this as possibly Dolphy's best ever album.
Produced by the estimable Alan Douglas (later producer/hanger-on for Hendrix, Miles, McLaughlin, Last Poets and more) in 1963, the line-up of musicians and hard-walloped SWING of this release makes it an essential listen. Sonically lying somewhere between the big band stylings of Mingus and the free-improv of Ornette or Coltrane, it's a perfect combination of density and freedom.
Highlights include the the title track, especially with Bobby Hutcherson's accompanying vibe action, and the avant-squonk of "Burning Spear", an 11+ minute journey that ranks as one of Dolphy's greatest compostions, his looming bass clarinet coming to the fore.
To state the bleeding obvious, had Dolphy lived longer than he had, we all would have been graced with so much more amazing music. Essential.

"Iron Man" and its companion "Conversations," along with the recently issued "Illinois Concert," fill in a vital gap in the Doplhy discography between his Prestige recordings and the masterpiece "Out to Lunch." However, "Iron Man" is a transitional album where Dolphy is looking forward to the kind of classic group improvisation he will discover on "Out to Lunch." On this recording he isn't there yet -- instead of collective unity there is often discordance. The band is identical to the one employed on "Conversations" and there is particularly good interplay between Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson and Richard Davis. Like on "Conversations" there are two pieces here that feature just duos with Dolphy and Davis, "Come Sunday" and "Ode to CP." This is good stuff, just don't expect "Out to Lunch II."

This fantastic, otherworldly record stands between Dolphy's better known Prestige recordings and the celebrated 'Out To Lunch.' That this record is not better known is a complete and utter mystery as it is every bit as great as the aforementioned record. In fact, it just might vie for Dolphy's most intense and futuristic recording, tracks like 'Burning Spear' shattering in their nightmarish intensity. If you treasure Dolphy's 'Out There' and 'Out To Lunch' as two of the most surreal and perfect late night records, do not rest until you succeed in tracking down a copy of THIS, one of his most unnerving and relentless works.

If you're looking for the next best thing (in a similar genre) to "Out to Lunch," then search no further. Here you can clearly hear that Dolphy's style of both playing and composing was developing towards the music on the before mentioned legendary Blue Note recording that took place less than a year later.
Dolphy plays all his instruments with great skill as usual - alto sax, bass-clarinet and flute.

Musicians featured on the title track, "Mandrake" and "Burning Spear" are Eddie Kahn (bass,) J.C. Moses (drums,) Bobby Hutcherson (vibes,) Prince Lasha (flute,) Clifford Jordan (soprano sax,) Huey Simmons (alto sax) and Woody Shaw (trumpet.)
Richard Davis ALSO plays the bass on "Burning Spear" and duets with Dolphy on Ellington's "Come Sunday" and "Ode To C.P." (C.P. naturally abbreviating Charlie Parker.)

These 1963 performances are great and the sound quality is very good. While not AS eccentric, Avant-Garde and free as "Out To Lunch" (since it lacks Tony Williams, and since there are three other horn players aside from Dolphy) the melodies are still beautifully arranged, and differs from what mainstream jazz artists recorded in the early 60's.
A warm recommendation if you've already been out to lunch!

I rank Iron Man among Dolphy's best discs and I have listened to quite a few of them. There is one problem with this disc and it has nothing to do with the music. The Fuel 2000 version of this great album all seem to have static noises on the last tune "Ode to P.C.". I thought I had just bought a defective CD so I returned it to exchange for another copy but the new copy had the same problem. Unfortunately the static noise renders the last song unlistenable.