The music of Eric Dolphy is always stimulating, but on OUT TO LUNCH we get a sonic masterpiece. This disc - although filled with nerve wrenching thorns - opens up intense thoughts and emotions as only a master craftsman could conjure. It's definately a prickley album - and not for the listener who prefers fluid, polished melodies... but if you like compositions that bend with exciting improvisations... this set will excite you! - this music is in its own category!!

This is one of the most badass recordings I have ever heard. Get it now.

Ah, the places Dolphy could have gone had he lived longer. As it was, he would die later in the year of a diabetic condition, and Out to Lunch would remain his last masterpiece (to some his only, but to me one of many.) This is his most iconic recording, his grandest vision, and shows the places he would have gone.

First of all is the concept. Eric Dolphy was an avant-gardist of the highest degree, a musician of the same scope as a John Coltrane, an Ornette Coleman, an Albert Ayler, a Cecil Taylor. What ultimately set him apart from these other revolutionaries, though, was his view of freedom WITHIN form, within meter (or a least pulse) within tonality, whilst his colleagues were often disgarding these conventions. But Dolphy, rather than throwing down barriers, would push them, constantly straining to see how far they could go, while always leaving a foot, or at least a toe, in the tradition. Why is this such a great approach? Because it makes his music so eminently approachable! Dolphy doesn't leap ahead, so eager to explore that he leaves his comrades, or his fans behind. He revolutionizes the music in small, methodical steps, allowing us all to follow his progress, and remain right next to him the entire time. Out to Lunch is the culmination of this. Dolphy doesn't limit himself rhythmically or harmonically, experimenting with both to the utmost. But he relies on witty, catchy compositions, and a pulse so steady it would straighten the leaning tower of Pisa, to propel his explorations.

Of course in this he was helped by a world-class band. The most crucial sideman is undoubtedly Tony Williams, responsible for that afore-mentioned pulse. But he doesn't just keep time...or pulse, but almost provides sonorities with his drums, using it almost as an array of orchestral percussion equipment, to spur on, and interact with, the soloists. Everyone reading this knows he is brilliant, knows how young he was...I'd have to say this might be his finest moment. Also check out his own Lifetime for drumming very close to that of here.

Also was Richard Davis, a name not mentioned much in the history BOOKS, but absolutely critical in the actual history. He sounds particularly good on this record, due to a very fine engineering job by Van Gelder...his bass is more visible then ever, and, as you will hear, plays a really important role in the sound of the album, varying up the rhythms, using plenty of double-stops and wide intervals. This has some of the best mixing for a bass player I've ever heard. His work on Hat and Beard, with a brilliant improvised bass vamp, and on Sweet/Tender is particularly noteworthy.

Hutcherson has the piano role on the vibes, but he doesn't function like a piano player...he never does. He doesn't play vibes like a Milt Jackson, but more as a percussive instrument, getting a really ringing sound...creating layers of sound under the soloing rather than throw-away chords, which just wouldn't do on an album like this. His solos are also more subtle than Dolphy or Hubbard, more impressionistic.

Then there's Hubbard, the perfect trumpeter for this kind of thing (although one wonders what Booker Little would have sounded like!) His solos, not as exotic or esoteric as Dolphy's, are nevertheless the perfect complement. His improvisation is equal to that of the leader's on a technical level, his tone is burnished, even lovely, and he fits right in, proving he's not JUST a hard bop groovemaker like some foolish critics seem to think. He was also on Free Jazz, Ascension, and Dialogue, after all. What's interesting about his playing here is it's a bit more contained; his tone, rather than the normal fire-spewing, is more concentrated, like, as another reviewer said, a bumblebee. You'll understand when you hear. An interesting contrast to his other work.

And Dolphy, is, of course, a literal genius. With less of an allegiance to bebop than ever, his work here (on alto) contains the next logical step from his magnificent five-spot recordings (which everyone should own.) His flute gets a one-track showing, but his bass clarinet may be the most famous thing...his growls and snarls on Hat and Beard and his interplay with Davis on Something Sweet, Something Tender make up the most radical core of Out to Lunch. But on whatever instrument, he is probing, testing, pushing walls, bending rules, stretching borders, playing both inside and outside the rest of the band both rhythmically (Hat and Beard) and harmonically (the title-track and the ending blues.)

This really is not only one of the greatest avant-garde recordings ever, but one of the greatest jazz albums in general, and it NEEDS to be in your collection. And I all but guarantee: listening to this a few times will give you a real good headstart in not only understanding, but liking, the free jazz that was to come. The magnum opus of a true genius of jazz, who could have gone so, so many places.