Gazzelloni eric dolphy biography

Content Note: discussion of racism

All jazz musicians have their own style, but some, surely, have more unique styles than others.

Eric Dolphy’s sound continues to fascinate me because it was not just different, but radical in its refusal to bow to convention. Like pianist Thelonious Monk, he was an inspirational artist in the sense that he did not compromise this style for critical approval.

Dolphy children

His abrasive, unpredictable solos are exhilarating and endlessly inventive, but they did not please everyone. One high-profile critic was Miles Davis, who famously said Dolphy played saxophone like “someone was treading on his foot” (Davis softens the snub in his autobiography, saying Dolphy “could play; I just didn’t like the way he played”).

Dolphy was an impressive multi-instrumentalist, too. As well as alto sax, he made some masterful recordings on the flute and bass clarinet, the latter being (up to that point) a