Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s. He was one of the first important bass clarinet soloists in jazz, extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.
Listen to the Best Music of:
Etta James, Billie Holiday, Bill Evans, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Muddy Waters, Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, James Brown, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Elvis Presley, Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Edith Piaf, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Parker, Lightnin' Hopkins, B.B. King, Thelonious Monk, Howlin' Wolf, Quincy Jones, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, John Coltrane, John Lee Hooker, Coleman Hawkins, Robert Johnson, Dean Martin, Oscar Peterson, George Gershwin, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Benny Goodman, Art Tatum, Joe Turner, Bing Crosby, Dave Brubeck, Mahalia Jackson, Fats Domino, Marvin Gaye, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Tony Bennett... and many others!
