Out To Lunch (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

Eric Dolphy | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: March 11, 1999
• Release Date: March 11, 1999
• Label: BLUE NOTE
• Copyright: (C) 1999 Blue Note Records
• Total Length: 42:18
• Genres: Jazz/Traditional Jazz & Ragtime
• ASIN: B000SZEXN2
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,154 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)
  • #13 in MP3 Downloads > MP3 Albums > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eric Dolphy was awesome., April 9, 2003

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out to Lunch (Audio CD)

I never used to listen to very much jazz, but lately it has been a big interest of mine. _Out to Lunch_ was one of my first important jazz purchases in my current exploration, despite some admonitions saying that if one is new to jazz this isn't a good album. Compared to most of yas I'm still a jazz neophyte, but I think this album is AMAZING.

Eric Dolphy has one foot in the compositional richness of Mingus and another in the avant-garde -- at the time, Dolphy was boldly stepping beyond tradition. So perfect are these pieces that it can be difficult to tell where composition ends and improvisation begins, and that ambiguity is part of _Out to Lunch_'s hook. Solos build out of the written arrangement and overlay the rhythms; melodically and rhythmically, this is tougher and sharper than most of the jazz I have heard so far. The playing is absolutely great.

"Hat and Beard" is a skittering, tense work. Dolphy's solo trades off with the trumpet, while furious drumming seems to dare Freddie Hubbard to become more aggressive, and he must finally concede to a quiet tintinnabulation of vibes. Here vibist Bobby Hutcherson seems to face conflict of its own as the nervous rhythm continues to exact a stretched eagerness until the main theme makes a return. Mwahaha, I like it. On "Out to Lunch", Tony Williams' playing is like an entirely new drumming language, superlatively intuitive and subtly emphasizing the perfect notes. In Dolphy's words, "Tony doesn't play time, he plays pulse." (Might not really make sense until you hear it though.) In fact, the rhythm work on this whole album is all astonishing and very easily some of the best I've heard. Players scuffle around the a repeated theme with tense solos, baiting other players and everyone takes the spotlight somewhere, occasionally at the same time. "Straight Up and Down" is a metrical labyrinth, but very swingin' with silvery melodies, achieving accessibility despite complexity. Williams and Richard Davis (bass) are very intense here. The best part is the end, where the initial theme returns with a pendent hum on the vibes -- it's almost disorienting coming out of the tricky stuff, like spinning in circles for a minute or two then stopping and being hit with dizziness. "Gazzelloni" starts with a catchy harmonious lilt then spirals into free territory that sounds more neatly arranged than it does random -- a testament to the skill of these masters. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" is a dulcet piece, mellow but rhapsodic. This one uses some deep harmonic languages to convey its feeling.

VERY sad that Eric Dolphy passed away shortly after recording _Out to Lunch_, because he probably could have gone on to some amazing work after this. I'm probably still a jazz-dummy and this review may be shoddy, but this is one of the best jazz albums in my collections. I know what i like!

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Mr. Dolphy's Neighborhood, May 28, 2002

By 

G B (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out to Lunch (Audio CD)

The irony about Out to Lunch is that despite the controversy it generates, it is still one of the most popular, accessible, and downright TUNEFUL albums to come out of jazz's 60s avant-garde. (And it has absolutely classic cover art.) If the avant-garde really isn't your thing, it may horrify you; but if you have any sympathy for this kind of stuff, even if you don't know it yet, you'll probably love it. I second others' suggestion to listen to Monk (Brilliant Corners) and Mingus (Mingus Ah Um) first. If you like those two, then Dolphy's ideas here will make a lot more sense.

Onto the music: this isn't really a free jazz record, as in a bunch of instruments all playing at the same time without reference to harmony or rhythm. Every theme is composed (with strange, but very catchy melodies) and despite the fact that the improvisation goes all over the place, it somehow manages to stay entirely within the context set by the composition. The solos all seem to make perfect sense and sound completely natural. Dolphy is terrific both as a composer and an instrumentalist -- bass clarinet on the first two tracks, flute on "Gazzelloni", and alto saxophone on the last two tracks. Freddie Hubbard, a guy known primarily for playing hard bop, fits in really well here. And the rhythm section is stellar and downright telepathic: Bobby Hutcherson's spacy vibes, Richard Davis's solid yet stretchy bass playing, and Tony Williams's hyper-aware drumming. There's a classic sequence in "Hat and Beard" when all three engage in an amazing percussion discussion.

This was one of the first jazz albums I bought as a rock fan who enjoyed Frank Zappa and King Crimson. I was hooked instantly, and to this day it remains one of my very favorite jazz albums. Even in a catalogue as star-studded as Blue Note, this is a milestone. If you like Out to Lunch, other records you may appreciate are Andrew Hill's Point of Departure (with Dolphy, Williams, and Davis) and Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue (with Hutcherson, Davis, and Hubbard).

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Masterpiece., February 24, 2002

By 

Ian Ryan (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out to Lunch (Audio CD)

I'm afraid that this, my first review on Amazon, is primarily aimed at the 'music fan from Carlisle, PA USA'. I was actually searching for info on Dolphy boxed sets when I noticed that there is a newly remastered version of this incredible work now available...and thought I might check out some reviews. Then I read the drivel written by said 'music fan'. Now, I would just like to say firstly that the comment that all people who like this album (and by implication, all post hard-bop jazz) are 'elitist pseudo-snobs' is insulting and moronic. Secondly, the remark that this is 'the kind of music that has contributed to the slow death of jazz as a mainstream American artform' is about as wide of the mark as any kind of supposedly intelligent comment I've ever read by any one about music, ever. Indeed, it seems far more likely to me that it is the very conservatism of mainstream jazz and its refusal to continue to explore and experiment that has lead to the 'death' of Jazz. Anyway, had to get that off my chest. For anyone else, I really think you should buy this album. If you don't like it, at least you will have heard something unique. In any case, this is really not totally 'free' music - I think that Dolphy shared with Mingus an interest with tonally centred improvisation with occasional moves 'out'. As such, it is a good introduction to the early avant garde jazz of the 1960s. Finally, the rhythm section is, for my money, one of the finest ever assembled in Jazz history.