Tears for Dolphy is a 1964 album by jazz trumpeter Ted Curson. The album's title track, an elegy for Eric Dolphy (who died at the end of June that year), has been used in many films.[1][2][3]

Tears for Dolphy
Studio album by
Ted Curson
Released20 December 1964 (1964)
Recorded1 August 1964
GenreJazz
Length61:24 (CD)
LabelFontana (LP)
Black Lion (CD)
ProducerAlan Bates
Ted Curson chronology
Ted Curson Plays Fire Down Below
(1962)
Tears for Dolphy
(1964)
The New Thing & the Blue Thing
(1965)
Alternative cover
Black Lion CD release

Reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [4]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[5]
Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed., 2008)    [6]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [7]

Brian Morton and Richard Cook, writing for The Penguin Guide to Jazz, give Tears for Dolphy a favorable review, noting "a raw sorrow in the title tune," a robust rhythm section, and the leader's "high, slightly old-fashioned sound."[8] Earlier editions of The Penguin Guide to Jazz give the album a rating of three-and-a-half stars.[6]

Chuck Berg, writing for Down Beat, said Curson and saxophonist Bill Barron's "tough, but highly melodic lines above the steady and crisp rhythmic substructure ably provided by bassist Herb Bushler and drummer Dick Berk."[9]

Scott Yanow of AllMusic asserts that most tracks "manage to be both explorative and surprisingly accessible."[4]

Track listing edit

All tracks recorded on August 1, 1964.[4][10]

  1. "Kassim" (Ted Curson) – 7:41
  2. "East 6th Street" (Bill Barron) – 5:38
  3. "7/4 Funny Time" (Barron) – 5:28
  4. "Tears for Dolphy" (Curson) – 8:32
  5. "Quicksand" (Curson) – 6:39
  6. "Reava's Waltz" (Curson) – 7:10

The Black Lion CD (1993) appends three tracks from the same recording session, but that originally appeared on the album Flip Top:[4]

7. "Searching for the Blues" (Curson) – 7:47
8. "Desolation" (Barron) – 8:45
9. "Light Blue" (Barron) - 3:43

Personnel edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Ted Curson". ATPFestival.com. All Tomorrow's Parties. 2005. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
  2. ^ Gilchrist, Todd (2006-03-20). "Teorema". IGN.com. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  3. ^ Teorema at IMDb  
  4. ^ a b c d Yanow, Scott. Tears for Dolphy at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  5. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  6. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.
  7. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 53. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  8. ^ Morton, Brian; Richard Cook (2010). The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (10th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 305–306. ISBN 978-0-14-104831-4.
  9. ^ Wynn, Ron (1994), Ron Wynn (ed.), All Music Guide to Jazz, M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov, San Francisco: Miller Freeman, p. 183, ISBN 0-87930-308-5
  10. ^ a b Fitzgerald, Michael (2006-06-15). "Bill Barron Issue Index". Retrieved 2007-08-03.