Eric Dolphy

★★★★ Eric Dolphy In Europe ESSENTIAL JAZZ CLASSICS. CD Avant jazz genius captured live in Denmark. In August 1961, 33-year-old Dolphy ventured to Europe alone to do a series of concerts using local musicians. He had just one album under his belt at the time (Outward Bound) but his notoriety as one of the trailblazers of the avant-garde jazz scene was well-known outside of America. This album, recorded on-stage in Copenhagen on September 8, 1961, was first released on the Danish Debut label in 1962 and is now bolstered with four bonus tracks from the same concert. Dolphy is in scintillating form, so much so that, at times, the Danish pickup band has a job keeping up with his improvisations. It’s not surprising that on the album’s piéce de résistance – a dazzling version of Billie Holiday’s God Save The Child – the band is absent, with Dolphy impressing on solo bass clarinet. All told, astounding musicianship.