Eric Dolphy | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. |
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | June 20, 1928
Died | June 29, 1964 West Berlin | (aged 36)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | |
Instruments | |
Years active | 1949–1964 |
Labels | |
Website | www |
Education | Los Angeles City College |
Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist,[1] 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.[2][3] Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists.[4][3]
His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to employing an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals.[5][6][7] He used melodic lines that were "angular, zigzagging from interval to interval, taking hairpin turns at unexpected junctures, making dramatic leaps from the lower to the upper register."[6] Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony.[8][9][10]