STACKING JAZZ with Dolphy's Last Gig
58 years ago, on the 2nd of June 1964, Eric Dolphy and a group of Dutch jazz musicians recorded a stunning performance at VARA TV studios, Hilversum (Holland)
STEREO VERSION: LIMELIGHT, LS 86013, DEEP GROOVE, GATEFOLD SLEEVE + INSERT, RELEASED MARCH 1965
MONO VERSION: FONTANA 195J-20, JAPANESE RE-ISSUE BY NIPPON PHONOGRAM CO. Ltd, 1984 (ORIGINALLY ON FONTANA 681 008 ZL, RELEASED IN HOLLAND, 1964)
Recently a record crossed my path that left a big impression - because of the music, the recording and the backstory, Eric Dolphy/ Last Date.
The quality of the music and the recording is amazing. I was not aware of this album nor its backstory, so it motivated me to look into this a little further.
The original release came out in 1964 on the Fontana label which issued both a Mono and a Stereo release. A Dutch Mono version in mint condition was difficult to find -and when you do it’s pretty expensive - so I decided to buy a 1985 Japanese re-issue. It has a faithful reproduction of the original cover art and it was cut directly from the original Mono tape. I find that Japanese re-issues are often of the highest quality.
They made a US version with a gatefold sleeve, containing an unusually folded, 8-page booklet with wonderful illustrations by an American illustrator, Zbigniew Jastrzebski. In order to get this version I acquired an original 1965 US Stereo issue on the Limelight label. Let’s dig in.
Artist
Eric Dolphy in listening mode…
Eric Dolphy was born in Los Angeles in 1928. He started his public performing career in 1958 as part of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Dolphy was a child of the bebop revolution that started with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. There is an excellent article in the New Yorker should you want to find out more.
Dolphy’s life was all too brief. He died on 29 June 1964, at the age of thirty-six – which sadly also makes this album, recorded on 2 June 1964, his last recorded album (there is some debate online about whether there was a later performance in Paris but what does it matter…). You can read some of the wonderful and some of the sad details of his life in that New Yorker article. He left us a large discography. He worked as a sideman in major groups led by Charles Mingus and John Coltrane for example.
Eric Dolphy was a true original with his own distinctive style on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet. His music fell into the “avant-garde” and/or “free jazz” category. Although the alto sax was his main instrument, Dolphy was the first flutist to move beyond bop and the jazz historians credit him with introducing the bass clarinet to jazz as a solo instrument. Oh, and he liked to smoke a pipe now and then…
Label
Limelight Records was a subsidiary label of Mercury Records, launched in 1965 and originally headed by Quincy Jones, a famous jazzman himself. A total of 71 albums were released on Limelight between 1965 and 1969, originally only jazz recordings, but the label diversified into other genres in the late 1960s. They released the Mono and the Stereo version of Eric Dolphy’s album in 1965.
Fontana started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of Philips Records in The Netherlands. Fontana's U.S. label was started in 1964 and distributed by Mercury Records. In the UK, Fontana was the licensee for Motown Records (1961), Columbia Records and Epic Records (until 1962), Vanguard Records (until 1967), Mainstream Records and ESP-Disk. An extensive review of Fontana’s musical ventures can be found by clicking here. Fontana released the first Mono and Stereo versions of Eric Dolphy’s album in Holland in 1964.
Music
Generally speaking, there are a few things I’m not too fond of in jazz and that is flute, alto sax, clarinet and free jazz. To me, free jazz often descends into an a-tonal cacophony, without purpose and melody. Maybe I just don’t get it, but to me it’s a little too much art for art’s sake, but let’s not digress. Most of the above comes together on this record, so let me say this; it often pays off to get out of your comfort zone !
Here is a picture of the partial quartet, lifted from another album released in the same month but from a different date (June 1, in Eindhoven). Left to right: Dolphy talking to Schols, Schols (bass), Bennink (Drums). Below is a picture pairing Mengelberg (piano) and Eric Dolphy, not sure if from the same sessions or a concert elsewhere.
The supporting musicians on this album are world-class. Dolphy knows how to play improvisational jazz and keep the melody intact. It’s a very nice combination of improv, rhythm, and swing. The proceedings are greatly helped by stellar and propulsive bass playing by Jacques Schols. He really underpins the entire album with a driving and swinging style, which contrasts nicely with the more improvisational aspects of the various tunes here. Misha Mengelberg (piano) was obviously channeling his inner Monk as they say, because his rendition of Epistrophy sounds absolutely convincing. Han Bennink played the drums, artfully holding it at all together and filling in the blanks.
You can listen to the album here:
Recording
Note that this is a live recording in front of a small audience. The sound is great. It’s open with good tonality, well-rounded bass, and nice sounding piano. In fact, this is one hell of a recording. I have no preference for either the Mono or the Stereo. The latter has a bigger soundstage and allows the instruments to breath a bit more, where the Mono is more direct and compact. Different listening experience, so it’s fun to have both. Tonally these records are very similar.
There is some debate amongst online jazz aficionados about whether the Stereo version is re-channeled Stereo based off of an original Mono master tape. When I listen to the Stereo version I hear & see a very stable and natural Stereo image hanging between the speakers with no unnatural instrument placement or drift. This leads me to believe this was done from an original Stereo recording, but of course I cannot be 100% sure.
Digging into this a little more, unfortunately I could not find any definitive information about whether this was originally recorded only in Mono or only in Stereo or whether they ran both tapes simultaneously. What we do know is that in 1964 they released a Mono and a Stereo version on the Fontana label at the same time. We also know that 3 years later, in 1967, the VARA team recorded Sonny Rollins in that same studio and they ran both Mono and Stereo tapes. Given the fact that this was done only three years after the Dolphy gig, it is not unreasonable to assume they did the same in 1964.
Furthermore, some sites quote that the Last Date record was cut from a 15ips two track tape. A 2-track tape would indicate that there was at least a Stereo master tape. Others comment that 1970s-era reissues were re-channeled Stereo with poor audio quality. That would mean there was a Mono master tape. I cannot verify this statement, but keep it in the back of your mind in case you encounter one of the later pressings. I did listen to a 1978 Japanese Stereo re-issue (Mercury SMX- 7199) and it sounded excellent. No sign of re-channeled Stereo that I could detect.
I did some searches on Dutch jazz sites but could not come up with anything conclusive (like photo’s of the master tapes), but having said all that, I believe that it’s reasonable to assume they recorded both in Mono and in Stereo. Someone at VARA must know….
In 1965 Limelight released the Stereo and the Mono version in a Gatefold sleeve with some very special artwork on the insert.
ALBUM COVER ART (Limelight version)
The cover art was created by Zbigniew Jastrzebski, an American illustrator (1941-2001). To me it has an almost Japanese aesthetic, but you can see some French influences as well - it’s art, so open to any interpretation I think. Zbigniew Jastrzebski designed quite a few album covers, notably for Delmark Records in the sixties. If you want to explore more covers designed by him, check out this link on discogs.
To conclude this article, I will show you the pictures of my Limelight album.
Tracks
Epistrophy – Composed By K. Clarke, Thelonius Monk
South Street Exit – Composed By E. Dolphy
The Madrig Speaks, The Panther Walks – Composed By E. Dolphy
Hypochristmutreefuzz – Composed By M. Mengelberg
You Don’t Know What Love Is – Composed By D. Raye, De Paul
Miss Ann – Composed By E. Dolphy
Personnel
Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – Han Bennink
Flute, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Eric Dolphy
Piano – Misha Mengelberg
Note: The album was recorded at the VARA television studios in the town of Hilversum, Holland, on 2 June 1964, hence all the Dutch jazz musicians in the band. In a nice example of Euro-US collaboration, Misha Mengelberg, the pianist, was responsible for penning one of the tunes as well. This was a special event with a small number of selected guests as the audience. The recording would later be broadcast on radio.
Fifty years later, on the 2nd of June 2014, they celebrated the recording’s 50th anniversary with a special concert in the same venue, also broadcast live on Dutch Radio 4 and 6. A quartet of Dutch musicians played Dolphy’s music; Joris Roelofs (bass clarinet, sax), Matt Penman (bass), Han Bennink (drums) and Frank van Bommel (piano).