The New Jazz Musings

The recent proliferation of reissued Eric Dolphy records has prompted Clive G. Downs to make a reappraisal of his contributions to jazz. Says Downs : "Even though he was considered by many critics as excessively Avant Garde, Dolphy's music may not appear in today's context to be all that revolutionary. The records referred to represent his periods of fairly long-term membership of bands such as those by Chico Hamilton, John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, as well as dates with his own groups. many sidemen sessions are also included."   ERIC DOLPHY's style is one of the most readily identifiable in jazz: his tone can often be easily recognised in the reed section of a large ensemble, for instance on MDM (3). Jazz has, for much of its history emphasised virtuosity (as opposed to the ensemble), and performance (as against composition), and in this respect Dolphy, at his most characteristic, is highly idiosyncratic in most ways — tonally, rhythmically, harmonically, and mel...

In the March 1978 edition of Britain's Jazz Journal, Alistair Loftus gave us his own personal recollections of John Coltrane, and his perspective on his works. With a preference for the 'classic' quartet period, he still covers pretty much Coltrane's entire career. He saw Trane live during the 1961 JATP tour, so another cool input for me.  Alistair Loftus first heard — though barely understood — the music of the fully matured John Coltrane at a concert in November 1961. Now, 16 years later, he offers a personal perspective on the career of a great creative jazz artist who intended his music to be a force for good in the world.  ABOUT TEN years ago jazz lost one of its giants when John Coltrane died at the age of 40 on July 17, 1967, his full potential still to be realised. His influence was tremendous and many of the tenor players who have emerged in recent years have tried, usually unsuccessfully, to sound like him — just as aspiring altoists tried to copy Bird's l...