Eric Dolphy with Booker Little - Far Cry (1962)

"Far Cry" is a jazz album by musician Eric Dolphy with trumpeter Booker Little, originally released in 1962 on New Jazz, a subsidiary of the Prestige label. Featuring their co-led quintet, it is one of the few studio recordings of their partnership. It is also one of the earliest appearances of bassist Ron Carter on record (following Carter's appearance on cello on Dolphy's "Out There" several months earlier). Dolphy took part in Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz" session before recording this album on the same day.

The entire first side presents a suite to Charlie Parker. "Mrs. Parker of K.C. (Bird's Mother)" and "Ode to Charlie Parker," both composed by pianist Jaki Byard, are respectively dedicated to Addie, Charlie Parker's mother, and a tribute to Parker. "Far Cry," composed by Dolphy, is also a tribute to Parker (the melody is identical to "Out There"), while "Miss Ann" is a musical portrait of a girl whom Dolphy knew at the time. Pianist Mal Waldron, who would be in Dolphy's touring band during 1961, composed the tribute to Billie Holiday "Left Alone." The album also includes two standards among the originals, "Tenderly" and "It's Magic." Little only appears on "Miss Ann" during side two, and "Tenderly" is Dolphy unaccompanied on alto saxophone.


Charlie Parker's influence permeates this 1960 session. Beyond the obvious acknowledgment on song titles ("Mrs. Parker of K.C. ['Bird's Mother']" and "Ode to Charlie Parker"), his restless spirit is utilized as a guiding light for breaking bebop molds. "Far Cry" finds multi-reedist Eric Dolphy in a transitional phase, relinquishing Parker's governing universal impact and diving into the next controversial phase that critics began calling "anti-jazz." On this date Booker Little's lyrical trumpet and Jackie Byard's confident grasp of multiple piano styles (though both steeped in hard bop) were sympathetic to the burgeoning "avant-garde" approach that Dolphy displays, albeit sparingly, on this session. "Far Cry" contains the initial performance of Dolphy's future jazz classic "Miss Ann," along with his first recorded solo alto sax performance on "Tenderly," in which Dolphy bridges the gap between the solo saxophone performances of Coleman Hawkins and Anthony Braxton.

Tracklist:

Side 1:
"Mrs. Parker of K.C. (Bird's Mother)" (Jaki Byard) – 8:03
"Ode to Charlie Parker" (Byard) – 8:42
"Far Cry" (Eric Dolphy) – 3:55 

Side 2:
"Miss Ann" (Dolphy) – 4:17
"Left Alone" (Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron) – 6:41
"Tenderly" (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) – 4:20
"It's Magic" (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn) – 5:40

Eric Dolphy with Booker Little - Far Cry (1962)

(320 kbsp, cover art included)