Eric Dolphy – Wherever I Go

I found this budget issue CD at a local “dollar” store and decided to take a chance. While I sympathise with Ken Dryden’s points about the quality of this re-issue (the CD does not sound that bad), the implosion of CD sales has made it difficult to find Dolphy’s work in many places now, so I think this offering is better than nothing at all.

Review by Ken Dryden (AMG):

This Eric Dolphy CD appeared out of nowhere in 2000, and Dolphy fans might be enticed by the supposed presence of any unreleased tracks. Sadly, this low-quality reissue, which lacks a list of musicians, liner notes, track timings, or composer credits, is little more than a rip-off. The first four tracks were originally recorded in 1963 and previous appeared on LPs issued by either Everest or Douglas. The obvious surface noise indicates this label didn’t even bother to pretend that they had access to the master tapes but simply dubbed the tracks from records. “Stormy Weather” is the originally unreleased first take recorded by Candid under the leadership of Charles Mingus in 1960, with Dolphy on alto sax, trumpeter Ted Curson, and drummer Dannie Richmond; the distorted sound, particularly of the bass, is the result of lousy production by this cheesy reissue label and not on the original tape. “Wherever I Go” sounds as if it is a date by drummer Chico Hamilton’s quintet; the instrumentation includes drums, cello, bass, guitar, and Dolphy doubling on alto sax and flute, although he only solos on the former. Whether or not this one track has been previously issued in any form, the first five tracks contained on this CD are all available elsewhere with far superior sound, making this release an extremely poor investment; therefore, the price would have to be extremely low for Dolphy fans to justify paying for one track of less than four minutes in length.

Track Listing:

1) Jitterbug Waltz (7:06)
2) Music Matador (9:18)
3) Alone Together (13:14)
4) Love Me (3:14)
5) Stormy Weather (13:16)
6) Wherever I Go (3:56)