My brother, Gertos, gave me Eric Dolphy's Last Date for Christmas. Damn it's great. Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink, both known for tarrying beyond jazz into Free Improvisation(ie. non-idiomatic), back him up. Recorded 1964, shortly before Dolphy's tragic and premature demise. The style of Dolphy's playing, here, is so incredibly...conversational, making fantastic leaps in register from deep guttural lows to piercing squeals. He also plays a mean bass clarinet! AMG EXPERT REVIEW: Although one slighty later session has since been discovered, Last Date remains a near-classic with the great Eric Dolphy (heard on alto, flute and bass clarinet) backed by a top European rhythm section — pianist Misha Mengelberg, bassist Jacques Schols and drummer Han Bennink — performing exciting versions of "Epistrophy," "You Don't Know What Love Is" and four of his originals. The innovative music points out what a giant loss Dolphy's premature death was; he passed away just 27 days after this memorable performance. — Scott Yanow
posted by Brad Larcen 12/25/2000[edit]
