Eric Dolphy Quintet with Booker Little - Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, Vol. 1

If you want to get a taste of Eric Dolphy live then this is the set to get. Certainly the Coltrane Village Vanguard sessions featuring Dolphy are masterpieces; however, he has more room to blow in this setting. Dolphy, for all his unique and decidedly individual style, was a remarkably emphatic player. His associations with Coltrane and Charles Mingus, and here with Mal Waldron, are truly special instances of jazz players complimenting and enriching each other's playing. Dolphy and Waldron are joined here by Booker Little, Richard Davis, and Ed Blackwell. This is a band of masters on a hot night. It's joyous listening. --Michael Monhart Amazon.com

Lots of soloing

Eric Dolphy and Booker Little are the main attractions of this live CD. Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, and Ed Blackwell form a very good rhythm section, though their careers don't have the same mystique. With just three songs (and an alternate version) over 47 minutes (not counting the alternate), each song is very long. The pattern is simply head, solos, then head. This would be deadly if the soloists didn't play at a very high level, and the long solos by Dolphy and Little are the reasons to get this CD. "Fire Waltz", by Mal Waldron, has the best melody. "Bee Vamp" has a less sturdy melody, but has great sections of group improvisation. "The Prophet" has the most unusual head of the three, you won't need the liner notes to recognize Eric Dolphy's stamp on it. This is a good look at Booker Little, who made too few albums, and worthy almost only because of that.
June 28, 2007

Hot hot hot !

One of the finest albums of bebop Jazz. Encapsulates the excitement of a live performance. A good representation of the genius of Dolphy.
A winner. May 31, 2005

Absolutely five stars!

From the first minute of the album I was hooked. Eric Dolphy is probably my favorite altoist at the moment, and always one of my top 5 saxophonists, and he is in brilliant form here. His tone is crisp, his lines as fiery and sharp as ever, and he has a wonderful rapport with his supporting cast. Dolphy makes the album worth it by himself.

Fortunately, with this supporting cast, he doesn't need to do it all by himself. Credit must be given to Eddie Blackwell on drums, bassist Richard Davis, and pianist Mal Waldron. Blackwell came of age with Ornette Coleman, and jazz has rarely seen a more underappreciated drummer. While not as flamboyant or extroverted as the other leading drummers of the 60's (Tony Williams and Elvin Jones comes to mind) Blackwell has a kind of light subtlety that other drummers lack...he is free and inventive with his time, and defines the word "crisp." Richard Davis of course was one of the foremost bassists of the era, and Mal Waldron shines not only as a logical, thoughtful soloist on piano but a solid composer, contributing the magnificent "Fire Waltz."

And Booker Little? Jazz is full of stories of men dying before their time: Clifford Brown, Albert Ayler, Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Eric Dolphy himself, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane. Put Booker on that list, near the top. The amount of recordings this brilliant trumpeter left for us is small, but worth every minute of it. If he had lived longer, he would have become the leading trumpet of the times, the biggest since Clifford Brown (in my opinion.) Some readers my differ on that, but the mere fact that I am asserting such a claim shows what a tremendous talent Little was. Nothing more needs to be said about him.

This album might be thought by some curious Amazon customers as avant-garde, but it is hardly that. I agree with a previous reviewer that this is a straight-ahead album led by 5 non-straight-ahead jazz players...especially Dolphy. Thus it is not WHAT the band plays that makes At the Five Spot so compelling, but rather HOW they play it. The format and style hews closely to the bop tradition, but it is if anything more explosive, time is much more free, and the soloists aren't just running changes, they are using the FULL capacity of their instrument, using any note available, any sound, any kind of rhythm...giving bebop the makeover that it needed.

Anyone interested in Dolphy needs to check this out...anyone interested in 60's jazz needs to as well. I disagree with the afore-mentioned reviewer in that this IS essential Dolphy. The creativty on this album, both as soloists and a collective ensemble is first class. Hear it to understand what I'm talking about. Hell, give this one 6 stars. December 7, 2004

Note to the musically critical thinker:

The Five Spot itself has a long tradition of hosting incredible names in music. The ambiance as i am sure we all could imagine was quite amazing to inspire the musicians it did as it did. But the fact of the matter remains that the recording acoustics of the venue were not as good as the actual place itself. Consequently some of the recordings didn't turn out as good that are from there. Anyone truly interested in music will just glance at this fact briefly and move along to buying the album. That is exatly what I did! Thanks to the insight however on Mal Waldron's accompanyment. That was very useful information.

also: I own and have heard several Five Spot albums, and some of them are of lesser quality, but the music sreams for attention! One of these is John Coltrane Live at the Five Spot, a tricky one to find and the recording quality is awful but is worth it in every way. January 9, 2003

awesome stuff

This CD is a must have for anyone interested in free jazz. Booker Little plays with such ingenuity! July 4, 2002

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