Last Date (Eric Dolphy album)

Last Date
Live album by
Eric Dolphy
Released1965
RecordedJune 2, 1964
GenreJazz
LabelLimelight Records, Fontana

Last Date is a live album by jazz musician Eric Dolphy released in early 1965 on Limelight Records. It was recorded on June 2, 1964[1] in Hilversum, North Holland, shortly after Dolphy had settled in Paris, France, following a tour with Charles Mingus.[2] Dolphy is accompanied by the Misha Mengelberg trio on the album. (It was one of Mengelberg's first appearances on record).[3] The audience was an invited group of recording executives and studio personnel.[2]

The final track, "Miss Ann", is followed by a brief excerpt from an interview recorded by Michiel de Ruyter for Dutch radio, in which Dolphy states: "when you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air, you can never capture it again."[4]

Following the recording, Dolphy wrote to the members of the trio concerning plans to work with them again.[5] However, he died on June 29 from diabetic shock. Two days after Dolphy's death, drummer Han Bennink received a letter from him containing details regarding a proposed engagement at the Café Montmartre in Copenhagen.[6]

Despite its title, Last Date was not Dolphy's last recorded performance, as he participated in sessions with Donald Byrd, Nathan Davis, and other musicians in mid-June 1964.[7] These recordings were issued on Naima, released in 1987,[8] Unrealized Tapes (1988),[9] Last Recordings (1999),[10] The Complete Last Recordings: In Hilversum & Paris 1964 (2010),[11] and Paris '64 (2018).[12]

Ten years after the recording of Last Date, while cleaning his apartment, Mengelberg found a rehearsal tape containing a recording of an 18-minute runthrough of "Epistrophy" at Cafe de Kroon, Eindhoven, Netherlands from the day before the concert. Mengelberg sent the tape to Bennink, along with a letter requesting that he release it on the Instant Composers Pool label.[13] The track was issued on LP by ICP in 1975, backed by a recording of Mengelberg playing a duet with his parrot, Eeko.[14][7]

Last Date was the inspiration for the 1991 Dolphy documentary of the same name, directed by Hans Hylkema, written by Hylkema and Thierry Bruneau, and produced by Akka Volta.[15][16] The film includes video clips from Dolphy's TV appearances, plus interviews with the members of the Mengelberg trio as well as Jaki Byard, Buddy Collette, Ted Curson, Richard Davis, Roy Porter, Gunther Schuller, and Dolphy's fiancé Joyce Mordecai.

  1. ^ Jazz Discography Project. "Eric Dolphy Catalog". Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  2. ^ a b Simosko, Vladimir; Tepperman, Barry (1971). Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography & Discography. Da Capo. p. 85.
  3. ^ Layne, Joslyn. "Misha Mengelberg: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  4. ^ Toop, David (2016). Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom: Before 1970. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 231.
  5. ^ Simosko, Vladimir; Tepperman, Barry (1971). Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography & Discography. Da Capo. p. 86.
  6. ^ De Ruyter, Michiel (1965). Last Date (liner notes). Eric Dolphy. Fontana. 825 608 QY.
  7. ^ a b Simosko, Vladimir; Tepperman, Barry (1971). Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography & Discography. Da Capo. p. 126.
  8. ^ Yanow, Scott. "Eric Dolphy: Naima". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Yanow, Scott. "Eric Dolphy: Unrealized Tapes". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  10. ^ "Eric Dolphy: Last Recordings". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  11. ^ "Eric Dolphy: The Complete Last Recordings: In Hilversum & Paris 1964". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  12. ^ "Eric Dolphy: Paris '64". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  13. ^ Eric Dolphy, Misha Mengelberg, Jacques Schols, Han Bennink Playing Epistrophy (liner notes). Eric Dolphy, Misha Mengelberg, Jacques Schols, Han Bennink. Instant Composers Pool. 1975. ICP 015. Amsterdam, August 29, 1974 / Dearest Han / The other day when the wife and myself, like many another end of the month were crawling over the floor and looking beneath and behind the furniture in search of possible objects of value, preferably currency, to be exchanged for food, she found the little tape I am sending you herewith, under the kitchen cupboard... Though the box had gotten damp and mouldy, we could decipher your name on it, so here it is...{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ Chadbourne, Eugene. "Eric Dolphy, Misha Mengelberg, Jacques Schols, Han Bennink Playing Epistrophy". AllMusic. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  15. ^ Henkin, Andrey (December 11, 2005). "Eric Dolphy: Last Date". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  16. ^ Simosko, Vladimir; Tepperman, Barry (1971). Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography & Discography. Da Capo. pp. x.