1963 MINT ORIG ERIC DOLPHY IRON MAN Free Jazz GIANT

$

56

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      BEAUTIFUL ~ MINT ~ 1963 FIRST PRESSING IN SHRINK WRAP!

               ERIC DOLPHY

                IRON MAN

                                ...USA - DOUGLAS RECORDS - SD 785 

            >>> You won't find a better copy, unless it's still sealed <<<

TOP COPY!! ***STILL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY SHRINK WRAPPER***

RARE Original 1963 first pressing..."Immaculate" ...

Eric Dolphy, an accomplished jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and bass clarinetist, also played, on a few occasions the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to reproduce human- and animal-like effects which almost literally made his instruments speak. 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. One of his two best albums, the ones to own, is "IRON MAN" ...

Although this 1963 date features some of the same musicians – Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis- as the following year’s “Out To Lunch”, it’s arguably as elegant as the celebrated Blue Note album. Some might find Eric Dolphy to be a bit forbidding–abstract and explosive in the same measure, and somewhat humorless like his mentor John Coltrane, but without Coltrane’s rhaposdic qualities or pan-world aspect. At the same time, Dolphy’s formidable improvising cuts right through the difficult maze his harmonic concept erects. He rarely gets bogged down in that marginal, beat, occasionally despairing world of the free jazzers. With Dolphy, seriousness can be liberating; he makes being difficult a beautiful way to go, and nowhere as much as this occasionally clunky but richly rewarding session which is the epitome of “post bop.”  

Our ears have never witnessed a song so simultaneously freaky and groovy as "Iron Man".  It's quite possibly the weirdest possible song that you can still groove to. The Another treat is "Come Sunday", which is a somber duet between Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet and Richard Davis playing bass with a bow.  We're pretty certain Frank Zappa was influenced by "Burning Spear",  it's pure chaos, but organized, fascinating chaos, a sort of bizarre take on bebop that all jazz fans should hear. That's actually the name of the game for about half this album - as well as the lovably quirky "Mandrake."

The ballads are pretty thoroughly out there, too. For one, neither of them has a piano. That's because there's no piano on this album, period. Which means that the conventional definition of harmony is pretty thoroughly eschewed. And their arrangements are so much different from conventional jazz arrangements, you couldn't be blamed for thinking that you were listening to a different album. "Ode to C.P.," recycled from Far Cry and largely improved upon here, is a fascinating bass-flute duet, while "Come Sunday" is the oddest Ellington cover you'll ever hear. It doesn't even sound like Ellington anymore. Some might balk at that, but it's pretty awesome.

  MINT!>>> You won't find a better original pressing, unless it's still sealed...

CONDITION: The cover: strictly MINT still in the original factory shrink wrapper ... a TOP 48 year old relic in pristine shape ... no bends, no split seams and no writing with 4 sharp corners.  

The vinyl: all smooth and clean, M- over both sides...a well cared for collectible that plays TOP level. One of the best copies we've ever seen. 

keeper!                                                 

     A  GREAT ADDITION TO ANYONE'S COLLECTION !

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record