Eric Dolphy was Destined to Save the World

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I can't name a favorite band, musician, or album but I can name a favorite recording Warm Canto from Mal Waldron's The Quest featuring Eric Dolphy, Ron Carter and Booker Ervin. It has been my favorite for over ten years, for longer than I have known that it was my favorite. Do you have those songs that you play over and over until you can barely stand them, then you play them again and it's almost like new again? That was my experience with Warm Canto, except I never got sick of it and for years hearing it was exactly like the first time again-- my breath would catch, I would lose my train of thought and stare, gaping at the stereo.

My bride was 30 minutes late for our wedding, no biggie, I knew where she was and I had been running around to be ready in time for our wedding, it was nice to catch my breath, it was nice to hear my song 5 or 6 times. It is the perfect post-modern love march. No Here Comes the Bride, it's an homage to love, the struggle, the beauty, the inherent contradictions, no treacle and false cheer, this is just pure, barely restrained, beauty.

It serves as my musical metaphor for Eric Dolphy, at times musically contradictory, sometimes hot and intimate sometimes cold and distant, always brilliant and not always accessible. He was an incredible talent who is still underappreciated. The Quest should be regarded as an American treasure, and Eric Dolphy should be a household name, or at least better known than Kenny G, for God's sake the man was equally brilliant playing alto sax, flute and clarinet.

The set opens with another favorite, the bass and alto sax duet, Come Sunday, featuring Richard Davis and ends with Warm Canto.

Set List

Part 1
Come Sunday (Duke Ellington) from Iron Man (re-released with Conversations as Jitterbug Waltz)
Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (Sigmund Romberg) from Where?
I'll Remember April (De Paul, Johnson, Raye) from Mingus at Antibes
Straight Up and Down (Eric Dolphy) from Out to Lunch


Part 2
Better Git Hit in Your Soul (Charles Mingus) from Mingus at Antibes
African Lady (Langston Hughes & Randy Weston) from Candid Dolphy
Far Cry (Eric Dolphy) from Far Cry
Fire Waltz (Mal Waldron) from The Quest
The Madrig Speaks, The Panther Walks (Eric Dolphy) from Last Date
Glad to be Unhappy (Rodgers) from Outward Bound
Warp and Woof (Mal Waldron) from The Quest

Part 3
Tenderly (Lawrence & Gross) from Far Cry
What Love (Charles Mingus) from Mingus at Antibes
Rally (Ron Carter) from Where?
God Bless the Child (Holiday & Herzog) from Stockholm Sessions
Warm Canto (Mal Waldron) from The Quest



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