The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue
Notes and Comments
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WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue Notes and Comments |
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| Zappa's composition named above is a parody of the fact that vast quantities of tributes came out after Eric's death. | ||
| Vladimir Simosko wrote the definitive biography/discography, available now from Da Capo Press. A Dutch filmmaker named Hans Hylkema made a documentary about Eric in 1992. It is now available on Rhapsody 9028. The point of view is quite Eurocentric, but it does spend a bit of time at the Dolphy's house in LA. A guy named Joe O'Con bought the house after the Dolphys died and maintained it as a museum/community center until it was destroyed in the riots in 1992. He still runs the Eric Dolphy Memorial Foundation, so the concept continues. | ||
| Musically, there isn't a lot of overlap between Zappa and Dolphy. Dolphy is noted for the large intervals he used, playing some form of the changes typically but the sevenths and thirteenths more than the tonics and dominants. He often kept the rhythmic structure simple in order to provide a basis from which to take harmonic leaps (although there are wonderful examples of his rhythmic complexity). Zappa instead tends toward polyrhythmic compositions with little harmonic complexity, often writing chromatic or serial structures (of course there are counterexamples here too, I'm generalizing). Dolphy was highly trained, unlike Zappa, and was a virtuoso on each of his instruments. Like Zappa, though, he was thought of as some kind of crazed radical revolutionary, in spite of their obvious musicianship. The other tie between them is probably their love of Varese. Eric performed Density 22.5 (I forget the actual density at the moment actually) many times. | ||
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| "This is a recurring figure around and improvised chorus. This figure, in 5/4, sets the rhythm section up with a definite solo feeling. In improvised section, the rhythms overlap. The bass follows no bar line at all. Notice Tony. He doesn't play time, he plays. Even though the rhythms section breaks the time up, there's a bacic pulse comming from inside the tune. That's the pulse the musicians have to play." | ||
| Looks familiar? Of course. Want another quote? | ||
| "I was thinking about Monk when I wrote this tune. He's so musical no matter what he's doing, even if he's just walking around. It opens in 5/4, but once the whole group is in, the basic count is really 9/4." | ||
| Yeah, it's Dolphy. His liners notes to his masterpiece _Out To Lunch_ | ||
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| His music has been a major influence on the likes of Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and countless others. Musicians from the "old school", such as swing/bop trumpeter Roy Eldridge, have been amazed by ED's musical ear. | ||
| I doubt FZ ever wished to make fun of ED; FZ has spoken highly of, performed music clearly influenced by, and/or played with many musicians of the jazz "avant-garde" of the 60's, such as pianist Cecil Taylor, multi-reed player Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and saxophonists Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler. | ||
| The melody of "ED Memorial BBQ" suggests that FZ had listened carefully to improvisations by ED. | ||
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| The first (or at least one of the first) posthumous Eric Dolphy albums (on Prestige) was called: Eric Dolphy's Memorial Album. | ||
| CC | ||
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Any proposal? I'd like to hear!
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Provocation, compilation and design © Vladimir Sovetov, 1994-2004 You could download, copy and redistribute this material freely as long as you keep copyright notice intact and don't make any profite on it. |