Out to Lunch

Artist: Eric Dolphy
Label: Blue Note Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 077774652421
EAN: 0077774652421
ASIN: B000005H55

Release Date: 1989-05-03

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Tracks:

Hat And Beard
Something Sweet, Something Tender
Gazzelloni
Out To Lunch
Straight Up And Down

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Customer Reviews:

Stellar.......2007-03-23

I had only heard Dolphy with Mingus before this album. The playing here is excellent. All the players are great. Dolphy's solos sound like they come from another place and time. Hutcherson makes the vibes sound menacing. I have never been a huge vibes fan but the use of them on these songs is perfect. Young Tony Williams also shows off his amazing ability on the drums. This type of jazz is not for everyone but after a few listens it really grows on you. There is a haunting quality to several of the tunes that is amazing.

4 1/2 stars........2007-03-16

five outstanding eric dolphy compositions performed with wonderful uniqueness by a quintet of jazz masters. dolphy himself plays alto sax, flute & bass clarinet on this recording. he is joined by freddie hubbard on trumpet, bobby hutcherson on vibes, tony williams on drums, and richard davis on bass. rock fans out there might know richard davis as the master of acoustic bass who contributed to the making of van morrison's all-time classic album "astral weeks." on "out to lunch" all five of these great musicians are soulfully creative and a shear joy to listen to. regarded as a jazz classic, this recording certainly deserves that distinction. great stuff.

perfect........2007-01-07

the best album so far until 2007 nothing tops this one. Andrew Hill is close, very close. But this is still the best album out there.

A Big Piece of a Sadly Small Legacy.......2006-11-01

It could certainly be argued that multi-reedsman Eric Dolphy had finer moments as a player than OUT TO LUNCH, his last studio date as a leader and the only one he recorded for Blue Note Records. But as the only entirely self-composed Dolphy session and one of the most famed avant-garde jazz recordings ever, this set has little if any competition as the most comprehensive expression of a tragically short-lived artist's very personal vision.
Dolphy had barely four months to live when he recorded OUT TO LUNCH in February of 1964 with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Tony Williams - indeed, he would not live to see the album's release. By this late date the Maestro's normally sublime blowing had taken on some of the harsher, squeakier, squawkier and gruffer qualities then in vogue among many of his "free" progeny, though Dolphy manages with admirable tenacity to keep at least one foot on firm sonic soil throughout most of this session. The leader's best performances are probably on his two alto saxophone workouts, "Straight Up and Down" and the title tune, while "Gazzeloni" is a skittering flute race quite unlike any of Dolphy's earlier efforts on that instrument and "Hat and Beard" and "Something Sweet, Something Tender" showcase, respectively, the most raucous and most genteel aspects of his legendary bass clarinet playing.
OUT TO LUNCH is less remarkable for Dolphy's solos, however, than for the stunning manner in which it manages to skirt the very edges of chaos for most of its forty-two minutes without once falling in. Regardless of one's opinion of this sort of music, there is no denying the internal cohesion and conceptual/compositional integrity of this remarkable date. Much of this is undoubtedly due to the superb rhythm section, particularly Hutcherson, who manages to hold all of the wildly swirling parts around him together on the most unlikely of instruments. Hubbard, for his part, provides the essential link to more mainstream jazz which helps keep OUT TO LUNCH as curiously accessible as it is, and proves as perfect a foil for the leader here as he had been on Dolphy's very first album, OUTWARD BOUND, four years earlier.
As a huge Eric Dolphy fan, I necessarily love OUT TO LUNCH, but less than I do several of the Maestro's more traditional sessions. Nevertheless, this album's seemingly impossible refusal to implode, shatter or just float away qualifies it as a singularly spectacular moment in progressive jazz history, and an absolutely essential part of any comprehensive collection.

Hey! Let's Do Lunch!.......2006-10-28

One of a handful of seminal, super-important, incredible recordings from the early sixties - this one from a relatively obscure man who influenced countless jazz, rock, even classical musicians. There's no way Out to Lunch should be sitting a 4.5 stars. That's criminal!

I've owned this recording in various formats since 1974 when I was 19 years old. I bought it because Frank Zappa paid Dolphy a homage with his "Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ" on Weasels Ripped my Flesh. It's such a shame that Eric did not live long enough to see Out to Lunch!, a landmark recording, released. I think he would be very pleased to know that this incredible work of art is so highly regarded by musicians today. Listen to it. It's a serious work of art, pushing musical boundaries, but it's just bubbling over with playfullness. These guys are having tremendous fun making serious music! The communication going on here is of the order of Kind of Blue or Filles De Kilamajaro - but I guarantee these guys were laughing at one another while this was recorded. I like the other reviewers description of Tony Williams daring Freddie Hubbard to be even bolder (as if his playing wasn't bold enough) That reviewer understands exactly what is going on here.

Out to Lunch! is like nothing you've heard before and everytime one listens the listener discovers something new. The cast assembled were all highly-skilled musicians and Dolphy's vision for a "free" session where the musicians play tightly together is fully realized. The dialogs between all of the musicians are extraordinary but in particular the dynamic between Tony Williams and Bobby Hutcherson is just surreal throughout the recording.

Oh, and you don't have to be a musician to enjoy this (although it helps) I've turned several non-musician friends on to this and they all love it. I'm thinking fans of Tom Waits "Rain Dogs" will love this.
Out to Lunch! is a serious work of avante garde music but it is very approachable, even to listeners who normally wouldn't like such wild music. It is rich with humor and musical "jokes".

Listen: When King Crimson's 30th anniversary edition of "In the Court of the Crimson King" was released I'd been listening a lot to Out to Lunch! When I heard Ian McDonald's vibe playing on the track Moonchild from ITCOTCK I made an immediate connection to Bobby Hutcherson's vibe playing. Now, I just happened to be communicating with Ian regarding the tune "Blue in Green" and couldn't resist asking him if he'd been influenced by Dolphy's Out to Lunch! when he composed the music for "In the Court of the Crimson King. McDonald wrote back "Busted!!!"

Listeners familiar with King Crimson's later work Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part II will instantly recognize the main riff came from the piece titled "Gazzelloni" from Out to Lunch!

Frank Zappa was also greatly influenced by Eric Dolphy and immortalized him with the piece "The Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ" When you listen to early Zappa music, especially the interplay between the horns and the marimba and vibes, tbe connection and influence of Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch is very overt. I turned Andrew Keeling on to this recording and he loved it so much he asked me if I had any other recommendations. Keeling is the composer who was commissioned to orchestrate the music of King Crimson.

In short, anyone who listens to music that was created for real listening, whether its someone of the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Primus, Dave Matthews, Frank Zappa or King Crimson, is going to love Out To Lunch! If you like REAL, creative music, purchase this at once and you too can go Out to Lunch!

PS - a little bit of trivia. Cal Schenkel's fantastically bizzare artwork for Zappa's Burnt Weeney Sandwich was originally commissioned for an Eric Dolphy record (possibly Out to Lunch) - I got that straight from Schenkel himself. Cool!

"It sounds like someone is standing on Eric's foot when he's playing"
Miles Davis on Eric Dolphy.

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