Eric Dolphy

Featuring: Mal Waldron

condition (records/cover): NM / EX+

Gatefold sleeve. No obi.

Second copy of the Japanese Prestige double, because the Five Spot night never stops being asked for and we have stopped being surprised. Eric Dolphy and Booker Little, July 1961: two of the most original horn voices of their generation, together in a working club band for one documented summer - "The Prophet", "Fire Waltz", "Bee Vamp", "Aggression", every title now canon, every solo studied by generations of players looking for the door these two walked through. The tragedy that shadows the date - Little's death that October, Dolphy's less than three years later - makes the joy of the playing land even harder: this is what was possible, this is what was lost, and here it is alive on vinyl forever, refusing the elegy by simply burning.

The rhythm section deserves its own monument; Blackwell in particular dances through the whole night. Same essential contents as its twin in this sale, fresh copy, same recommendation: total, immediate, permanent.