At the Five Spot, Vol. 1 (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) Eric Dolphy

• 1 Fire Waltz 13:42
• 2 Bee Vamp (Album Version) 12:11
• 3 The Prophet (Album Version) 21:22
• 4 Bee Vamp (Alternate Take) (Album Version) 09:25
• Total Runtime 56:40

Info for At the Five Spot, Vol. 1 (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster)

One night during a one-time, two-week engagement at the Five Spot produced enough music of lasting merit for three albums. When Rudy Van Gelder took his portable equipment down to the fabled Cooper Square jazz club on July 16, 1961, he captured the interaction of an extraordinary quintet.

Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, and Ed Blackwell had formed a cooperative group and, if Little had not died in October 1961, there is no doubt that it would have been a potent force in the music of the Sixties and beyond. Dolphy himself died in June 1964, after establishing himself as one of the important contemporary reedmen. Here his alto saxophone and bass clarinet and Little’s trumpet explore three originals: "The Prophet" by Dolphy, "Bee Vamp" by Little, and "Fire Waltz" by Waldron. It’s time caught in a bottle-music for the ages.

Features the BONUS TRACK "Bee Vamp (alternate take)."

A Note From Rudy Van Gelder: "I was the engineer on the recording sessions and I also made the masters for the original LP issues of these albums. Since the advent of the CD, other people have been making the masters. Mastering is the final step in the process of creating the sound of the finished product. Now, thanks to the folks at the Concord Music Group who have given me the opportunity to remaster these albums, I can present my versions of the music using modern technology. I remember the sessions well, I remember how the musicians wanted to sound, and I remember their reactions to the playbacks. Today, I feel strongly that I am their messenger." (Rudy Van Gelder)

Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone (on "Fire Waltz" and "The Prophet"), bass clarinet (on "Bee Vamp" and "Aggression") and flute (on "Like someone in Love")
Booker Little, trumpet
Mal Waldron, piano
Richard Davis, double bass
Ed Blackwell, drums

Recorded live at the Five Spot, New York City; July 16, 1961
Remastered 2008 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
All transfers were made from the analog master tapes to digital at 24-bit resolution

Digitally remastered

Eric Dolphy
was a true original with his own distinctive styles on alto, flute, and bass clarinet. His music fell into the "avant-garde" category yet he did not discard chordal improvisation altogether (although the relationship of his notes to the chords was often pretty abstract). While most of the other "free jazz" players sounded very serious in their playing, Dolphy's solos often came across as ecstatic and exuberant. His improvisations utilized very wide intervals, a variety of nonmusical speechlike sounds, and its own logic. Although the alto was his main axe, Dolphy was the first flutist to move beyond bop (influencing James Newton) and he largely introduced the bass clarinet to jazz as a solo instrument. He was also one of the first (after Coleman Hawkins) to record unaccompanied horn solos, preceding Anthony Braxton by five years.

Eric Dolphy first recorded while with Roy Porter & His Orchestra (1948-1950) in Los Angeles, he was in the Army for two years, and he then played in obscurity in L.A. until he joined the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1958. In 1959 he settled in New York and was soon a member of the Charles Mingus Quartet. By 1960 Dolphy was recording regularly as a leader for Prestige and gaining attention for his work with Mingus, but throughout his short career he had difficulty gaining steady work due to his very advanced style. Dolphy recorded quite a bit during 1960-1961, including three albums cut at the Five Spot while with trumpeter Booker Little, Free Jazz with Ornette Coleman, sessions with Max Roach, and some European dates.

Late in 1961 Dolphy was part of the John Coltrane Quintet; their engagement at the Village Vanguard caused conservative critics to try to smear them as playing "anti-jazz" due to the lengthy and very free solos. During 1962-1963 Dolphy played third stream music with Gunther Schuller and Orchestra U.S.A., and gigged all too rarely with his own group. In 1964 he recorded his classic Out to Lunch for Blue Note and traveled to Europe with the Charles Mingus Sextet (which was arguably the bassist's most exciting band, as shown on The Great Concert of Charles Mingus). After he chose to stay in Europe, Dolphy had a few gigs but then died suddenly from a diabetic coma at the age of 36, a major loss.

Virtually all of Eric Dolphy's recordings are in print, including a nine-CD box set of all of his Prestige sessions. In addition, Dolphy can be seen on film with John Coltrane (included on The Coltrane Legacy) and with Mingus from 1964 on a video released by Shanachie. (Scott Yanow)

Booklet for At the Five Spot, Vol. 1 (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster)