In case you're not familiar with Eric Dolphy, he was a (chronologically) post-bop, jazz reed virtuoso, equally skilled and emotionally proficient on flute, alto saxophone and bass clarinet (which has, since my acquaintance with his music, become one of my favorite reed instruments). Born in 1928 in Los Angeles, he died in Berlin in June of 1964 of complications of a diabetic coma and sheer neglect. It seems the hospital staff, after Eric collapsed on stage, succumbing to the stereotypical view that all (or most) jazz musicians were drug addicts, left Eric in bed, unattended, to allow the alleged drugs to run their course. A brilliant, but tragically short, life.
My first exposure to Eric Dolphy is to the credit of my old school chum Bob Z., who had sometime around 1973 purchased an Eric Dolphy LP, which I cannot readily now identify due to record companies' haphazard practice of issuing unrelated and insufficiently documented recordings as an 'album', which contained mostly live material and a seminal performance of the old standard LAURA. The recording, now available as one of three "Live in Europe" CDs, still gives me goosebumps when I hear it.
The 'blessing' and the 'aging' to which I previously alluded come into play as follows. The pieces to which I was listening were recorded around 1960. I was hearing them in the early seventies. That means that music was made about thirteen years prior to my discovering it. In my innocent youthfulness, I perceived that mere 13 years as "A LONG TIME" ago. And the 36 years of age Eric had attained was really very young by most objective standards, but old to one of fifteen years.
Now, at fifty-three, listening to this glorious music and looking at photos of Eric Dolphy online, the apparent truth of the matter is that, when Eric passed away, he was only a kid. But what a BRILLIANT kid!
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Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano opens the May 23rd Monday Night Songwriters Showcase at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery with 30 minutes of solo, Gonzo, Fractured Jazz and Improvisational Terror Tactics at the Piano. (take the elevator on the right to the 2nd floor) 124 North Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701, tel: 301-631-0089, Fax: 301-631-1874
www.brewers-alley.com
Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise (F.A.M.E.)
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