Eric Dolphy

Featuring: Jaki Byard, Mal Waldron, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Booker Little

condition (record/cover): NM / VG+ (1/2" discoloration on top front)

Insert and obi included.

Second copy of the Japanese Prestige collection of Dolphy alternates and rarities, because the premise sells itself twice as easily: more Eric Dolphy from the fertile 1960-61 stretch, takes the original LPs could not hold, from sessions where even the leftovers outclass most artists' keepers by a comfortable margin. The bass clarinet growls, the flute flies, the alto leaps its impossible intervals - all in versions most listeners have never heard, which for music this familiar is its own quiet thrill: the beloved voice, saying new sentences. There is also craft-study value here that musicians prize - comparing takes reveals the decisions, and Dolphy's decisions were always the interesting kind. Vault releases earn their place when the vault is this rich, and Prestige's Dolphy vault was among the richest anywhere.

Japanese pressing, same recommendation as its twin: for everyone already converted, which around this shop is everyone, and for good reason.