# Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

I picked this up a while ago and gave it a couple of listens and kind of dismissed. I'd heard and liked 'Hat and Beard' on a Youtube channel and then looked at some reviews of the album and all were positive, so I thought it was a no brainer. My ears weren't ready for it, it was just too bizarre. The vibes, bass clarinet and flute are just such a weird combination. It's actually pretty scary and intense to listen to.

This is one of the few albums I have bought that I didn't either immediately like or get into over time. So what's your opinion of it. Is it the work of genius I was led to believe?

I'll probably return to it in a year or so and absolutely love it. That seems to be the nature of my musical tastes.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

It's different and it's great. It's avant garde, but it's not inaccessible and rewards repeated listening.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

jhar26 said:


> It's different and it's great. It's avant garde, but it's not inaccessible and rewards repeated listening.


 -- Well said. --


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I like Eric Dolphy, but this one doesn't speak to me. At least yet.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I like it. I don't think it's that unusual. Less "difficult" than some of the Classical I listen to.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> I like Eric Dolphy, but this one doesn't speak to me. At least yet.


I confess that kind of post-bop it's probably my favorite genre it took a long time to me to warm to it. Now I love it and its metallic nervous and angular sound. For some reason I associate it to that kind of brutalist buildings where you can see concrete everywhere and the bare elements of the structure.
Anyway I kind of rediscovered it after my fixation for this great Grachan Moncur piece, Blue free, that to me reminds a lot of the atmospheres of Out to lunch


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## 38157 (Jul 4, 2014)

This is a great album. I think "Iron Man" was sort of similar, but I prefer this by quite a bit. I think this was the best of Dolphy's output as I think it has the most distinctive aesthetic, although most of Dolphy's work is fantastic, and all of his playing is unbelievable. He did a good version, I think, of Naima.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

It sounds pretty strange at first, especially if you're used to more straight ahead jazz. Considering that it was recorded 50 years ago, it sounds extremely modern and unique, and "work of genius" isn't an overstatement.

I can never get enough of Eric Dolphy, so I've sought out all of his albums as leader and sideman.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Thanks to you-all for your posts. I haven't heard this CD in 20 years, so I've revisited it. Now it sounds great to me. I hadn't understood its context before. It makes more sense now.


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