Eric Dolphy Outward Bound

Presented here is the complete original LP Outward Bound, Eric Dolphy’s first album as a leader. He had been recording since 1948, when he was a member of the Roy Porter orchestra. In the twelve years that separate those early sides from Outward Bound he would gain renown as a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, just before joining Charles Mingus in 1960, for the first of their various collaborative phases. The album features Dolphy in a quintet format with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Jaki Byard on piano, George Tucker on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. This was the first of various collaborations between Dolphy and Hubbard, and one of the very best. Dolphy’s untimely death took place in Berlin, Germany, on June 29, 1964 (he was just 36), when after suffering from diabetic shock, the doctors left him unattended. They incorrectly assumed he was on drugs, and deprived him of the attention he needed which could have saved his life.