Today's media centers around two of the greatest sax (woodwind in general, really) players of all time: John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. While Coltrane is typically seen as the king of his instrument (second perhaps only to Charlie Parker), Dolphy receives slightly less attention. It has been said about Dolphy's playing that it was "too outside to be in, but too inside to be out" - that is, his improvisational sensibilities were too avant-garde to be readily consumed by much of the public, but were also too grounded in convention to be considered completely avant-garde. As far as I'm concerned, this is what made him so brilliant - he had the ability to make you feel entirely uncomfortable and pacified in the same breath. Here, we see Dolphy and Coltrane in a quintet together performing "My Favorite Things." Coltrane is on soprano sax, and Dolphy is on flute - note their different approaches to playing over the same chord changes.
As far as I'm concerned, Eric Dolphy is one of the guys to listen to in 60s jazz. His work with Charles Mingus is particularly astounding - no surprise, given that one of Mingus' best traits was his ability to extract the very best from every musician with whom he worked. For those of you who are interested, might I suggest Mingus at Antibes - a wonderful introduction to the work of both Dolphy and Mingus. For those of you who are more adventurous, check out Dolphy's 1964 solo effort, Out to Lunch.
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