Out to Lunch!

Out to Lunch!
Studio album by Eric Dolphy
Released	1964
Recorded	February 25, 1964 Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre	Jazz, avant-garde jazz
Length	42:31
Label	Blue Note Records BST 84163
Producer	Alfred Lion
Eric Dolphy chronology
Conversations (1963) Out to Lunch! (1964) Last Date (1964)
Re-issued cover from RVG Series

Out to Lunch! was Eric Dolphy's only recording for Blue Note Records as a leader and was originally issued as BLP 4163 and BST 84163. Today it is generally considered one of the finest albums in the label's history, as well as one of the high points in 1960s jazz avant garde and in Dolphy's discography.^{[citation needed]}

The title of the album's first track, "Hat and Beard", refers to Thelonious Monk; the song contains a famous percussive interlude featuring Tony Williams and Bobby Hutcherson. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" includes a noteworthy duet between Richard Davis on bass and Dolphy on bass clarinet. The third composition, "Gazzelloni", was named after classical flautist Severino Gazzelloni, but is otherwise the album's most conventional, bop-based theme. The second side features two long pieces for alto saxophone: the title track, and "Straight Up and Down", intended, according to the original liner notes, to evoke a drunken stagger.

Tony Williams had turned eighteen a few months (75 days) before this recording, and is listed as "Anthony Williams" on the album cover.

A few months after recording this album, Dolphy went on a European tour with Charles Mingus. He died shortly thereafter of a diabetic coma.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" and awarded it a "crown" stating "If it is a masterpiece, then it is not so much a flawed as a slightly tentative masterpiece."^[2] The album was identified by Chris Kelsey in his Allmusic essay "Free Jazz: A Subjective History" as one of the 20 Essential Free Jazz Albums.^[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Eric Dolphy.

1. "Hat and Beard" – 8:24
2. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" – 6:02
3. "Gazzelloni" – 7:22
4. "Out to Lunch" – 12:06
5. "Straight Up and Down" – 8:19

Performers

• Freddie Hubbard — trumpet
• Eric Dolphy — bass clarinet (1 & 2), flute (3), alto saxophone (4 & 5)
• Bobby Hutcherson — vibraphone
• Richard Davis — bass
• Tony Williams — drums

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "Eric Dolphy". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 359. ISBN 0-14-102327-9. 
3. ^ Kelsey, C. Free Jazz: A Subjective History accessed December 7, 2009

External links

• Out to Lunch! at All About Jazz