Eric Dolphy

Berlin, 30 August 1961. Eric Dolphy, thirty-three, on his second trip to Europe, plays two sets the same day for Südwestfunk: one at the Club Jazz Salon, one at the Funkturm exhibition hall. Benny Bailey is on trumpet for half the tracks, with Pepsi Auer on piano, George Joyner on bass and Buster Smith on drums. The tapes sat until 1978, when Enja and Inner City issued them as a double LP.

Seven tracks. Hot House runs nineteen minutes; When Lights Are Low thirteen, on bass clarinet; Hi-Fly on flute; God Bless the Child as the unaccompanied bass clarinet solo he was playing everywhere that year; two Dolphy originals, G.W. and 245, mistitled on the sleeve; and I'll Remember April.

Christgau gave it an A, two astonishing sides and two more than adequate ones, and called the Hot House a synthesis of bebop and free jazz that sounded up to the minute in 1979. The Penguin Guide hears the first sign of Dolphy going single with European pick-up bands, and finds this band better than most, Bailey's tense bop trumpet recalling Booker Little, Auer and Smith leaning hard on the beat. Scott Yanow at AllMusic thinks it would be a perfect introduction to Dolphy if it were easier to find. The Washington Post called the unearthing a godsend, tapes from the height of his powers.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's Enja Real Jazz Classics series.