I’ve been on a Eric Dolphy and Booker Little high for quite a while. Both cats are way up there on the list over favorite jazz musicians of all time. They are both total masters of their respective instruments. And in Dolphy’s case there’s quite a few of them. I’ve long been a trumpet kind of guy. I am fascinated with that instrument, it’s sound and what can be created with it. Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker… they all have amazed me. And Booker Little is up there together with all of them. He had an absolutely amazing style of his own, a beautiful tone and technical brilliance. As well as a wonderful sense of lyricism. He died far too young like Dolphy, and so many other jazz greats, at the tender age of 23. His career was brief but he left us a number of great recordings to be treasured and enjoyed.
To have both Dolphy and Booker Little playing together on the same album is a great treat. And add Mal Waldron, who is one of my favorite pianists in jazz, together with Richard Davis, a wonderful bassist who’s output I will explore further, and a superb drummer in Ed Blackwell who has become a strong favorite of mine, elevating himself to stake a claim of being in my top three drummers of all time. You have here an amazing line-up that is hard to beat.
Like this album is hard to beat. It’s truly one of my favorite albums. It’s so brilliantly executed by these five amazing musicians. And it’s live, which is the most natural setting for jazz in my opinion. To have been there at the Five Spot back in the day, witnessing these tunes being played in front of you… what a dream. The LP just sounds incredible. Like new. And the recording is flawless to my mind.
The two tunes featured here is the fantastic, up-tempo whirlwind ”Aggression”, penned by Booker and the soothing, laid back “Like Someone In Love”. Both tunes feature wonderful solos throughout, but my favorite moment of the entire album is Booker’s superbly taken solo on “Like Someone In Love”.
I’ve been trying to find originals of both Dolphy and Booker albums which are musically outstanding, but equally rare, and thus very hard to find as 1st pressings in great shape. Lately I got lucky though and had the chance to acquire several of them, and this album on display is one of them. I actually found two copies in a short space of time. Both in superb shape. This one on display feels like it’s freshly picked up in an 60’s record store, except maybe for one of the labels which shows some age. Stunning condition, jacket and vinyl. Plays like new. The other copy that I purchased first is in great condition as well and sounds like new as well, but has a little warp. So I upgraded and couldn’t be happier. Never expected to find another copy so quickly and in such flawless condition. And it’s flat as a pancake.
Another album that I thought I had to wait forever on to secure as a true 1st pressing I also managed to find lately and place on my shelves. A very difficult to find album with all the 1st pressing details present. And in the condition it was in, almost impossible it seemed. I’m very happy to say the least. It’s a Dolphy album, stay tuned to find out which one it is. And another one, by Booker Little that I have been looking for also made it’s way into my collection. Actually two copies, one is coming next week hopefully. I bought one copy first and it’s a great copy, but I had the chance to upgrade almost straight away, so I couldn’t miss that opportunity. It’s also a rare album that you don’t see often. A musically very interesting and highly enjoyable album. Stay tuned for that one as well coming up.
Then there are several other albums I’ve secured which are all great. It’s been a very exciting time these past months, cause I’ve been able to acquire quite a few titles. Many more than I usually do in that time frame. I’ve been able to beef up the record budget some more to expand the collection. Cause there’s so many albums on the want list and I’d like my collection to grow a bit. Haven’t been focusing on the most expensive of Blue Notes either. Instead I’ve been buying wonderful stuff on labels such as Candid, Impulse!, Atlantic, New Jazz and Prestige. So, plenty of great albums to be posted here on the site in the coming months.
A few questions for my readers: What’s your take on this album? Top 3 live jazz albums of all time? Top 3 albums that feature Eric Dolphy? Top 3 albums that feature Booker Little? Write away guys.
From a vinyl junkie to all of you; have a great rest of the weekend and stay safe. Enjoy your collections. Maybe put a Dolphy or Booker Little album on the turntable? Cheers…
