Eric Dolphy (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American
jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto
saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several
multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence during the same era. His use of the
bass clarinet helped to establish the unconventional instrument within jazz.
Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was
among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists.
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Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. was born and raised in Los Angeles,
California. His parents were Sadie and Eric Dolphy, Sr., who immigrated to the
United States from Panama. He began music lessons at the age of six, studying
clarinet and saxophone privately. While still in junior high, he began to study
the oboe, aspiring to a professional symphonic career, and received a two-year
scholarship to study at the music school of the University of Southern
California while he was just barely into his teens. At this point he had taken
up the saxophone as well, and his love of classical music had him working
toward a future as a symphonic musician.
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Dolphy quickly integrated into the New York scene, playing
on multiple important records and live dates with Mingus, but also contributing
to landmark albums from Oliver Nelson, Ron Carter, Gunther Schuller, Booker
Little, and many more, all between 1960 and 1961. Dolphy played bass clarinet
on the collective improvisation that became Ornette Coleman's 1961 album Free
Jazz, giving a title to the burgeoning movement. In 1961 he officially joined
John Coltrane's band after sitting in on many occasions, contributing to albums
like Africa/Brass and Live! At the Village Vanguard, and playing a major
influential role in Coltrane's shift from hard bop to more unrestricted sounds.
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It's impossible to know what Dolphy would have accomplished
had he lived into his forties, but what he did leave behind, in just a sort
time, comprises multiple lifetimes' worth of monumental creation.
(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)
