Eric Dolphy

Eric Dolphy
Background information
Birth name	Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr.
Born	(1928-06-20)June 20, 1928 Los Angeles, California, United States
Died	June 29, 1964(1964-06-29) (aged 36) Berlin, Germany
Genres	Jazz avant-garde jazz post-bop third stream free jazz
Occupation(s)	Bandleader saxophonist flutist bass clarinetist composer sideman
Instruments	Alto saxophone flute bass clarinet soprano clarinet baritone saxophone piccolo
Years active	1949–1964
Labels	Verve Impulse! Prestige Blue Note Mercury
Associated acts	Charles Mingus John Coltrane Booker Little Chico Hamilton Mal Waldron Ron Carter Oliver Nelson Ornette Coleman Max Roach John Lewis Freddie Hubbard George Russell Ted Curson Abbey Lincoln Ken McIntyre Andrew Hill Benny Golson
Website	adale.org/EDIntro.html

Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s. He was one of the first important bass clarinet soloists in jazz, extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists.

His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to reproduce human- and animal-like effects which almost literally made his instruments speak. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.

Dolphy was born in Los Angeles to Eric Allan Dolphy, Sr. and Sadie Dolphy, who immigrated to the United States from Panama. He picked up the clarinet at the age of six, and in less than a month was playing in the school's orchestra. He also learned the oboe in junior high school, though he never recorded on the instrument. Hearing Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins led him towards jazz and he picked up the saxophone and flute while in high school. His father built a studio for Eric in their backyard, and Eric often had friends come by to jam; recordings with Clifford Brown from this studio document this early time.

...
Wikipedia