Lost compositions of LA jazz great found, performed after half-century

A special concert was performed Monday night at the Ford Theater in Hollywood. It was part of the Angel City Jazz Fest. Local jazz master Bennie Maupin and his group brought to life music from Los Angeles jazz legend Eric Dolphy. They performed original Dolphy compositions discovered recently after nearly five decades.

KPCC’s Shirley Jahad tells us the story of paying tribute to a teacher and giving an artist his due.

Shirley Jahad: As a boy growing up in Watts, musician Eric Dolphy tried to imitate the sounds of the birds. He emerged in the 1950s when jazz experimentation was part of the fabric of the community.

Jazz greats Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, and Buddy Collette were his neighbors and mentors. Dolphy mastered three instruments: alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet.

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Dolphy’s Out to Lunch is one of the finest jazz albums. He was at the forefront of the “free jazz” movement.

Bennie Maupin: When I heard Eric Dolphy, that was a moment I will never forget.

Jahad: Jazz saxophonist Bennie Maupin says Dolphy inspired him to play bass clarinet.

Maupin: Eric had his own tone. It was different. It was very free. His improvisations were very angular and rhythmic with movement and motion that I had never heard before.

Jahad: In the early 1960s, Dolphy played with saxophonist John Coltrane. They set off on a concert tour that included Detroit.

Maupin: He was playing with John Coltrane and I went to hear them every single night.

Jahad: Bennie Maupin was 20; Detroit was his hometown.

Maupin: Of course, myself and other musicians around Detroit were there to hear what they were doing. And what they were doing was totally different from what anyone else was doing.

Jahad: And one night I got to meet Eric. Most of the musicians gathered to meet Coltrane. I waited my turn to meet Eric. I just started studying the flute. I told him that. He was holding his own flute; he just handed it to me and said, “Here. Play something for me.”

He showed me how to balance it, blow the air, and he demonstrated it. That went on for 45 minutes. He gave me a master class. He gave me a flute lesson. It was a special moment I will never forget.

He gave me 100 percent percent of his attention. I was working on getting the sound. Whenever I would, he said, “Hey! Hear that? That’s the direction you want to go.” That was my Eric Dolphy moment.

Jahad: In 1964, Dolphy went to Germany. Before he left, he gave composer Hale Smith some original compositions for safekeeping. Dolphy died months later after falling into a diabetic coma. He was 36. Fast-forward nearly half a century. Smith uncovered the Dolphy compositions and passed the sheet music along. Then Bennie Maupin got it.

Maupin: To me, it’s like finding a score left by Beethoven. How rare is it you have a chance to see the work and to play the work of a person in his own handwriting? I look at these scores every day, and I am deeply moved I can present this to the people. It’s a high honor, and a high responsibility.

Jahad: Maupin created an ensemble to play the music. It’s called “Dolphyana.”

Maupin: Hopefully, we can introduce him to people who don’t know who he was or what he did. And that’s the whole point in keeping the spirit of his work alive in keeping his name alive.

People buy subscriptions to Disney Hall every year and listen to Mahler and Tchaikovsky – all of that music is being kept alive because people believe in it. I feel we have an equal responsibility to great American artists.

So at this point, I have a great opportunity to speak out about Eric Dolphy to express my love and admiration for him and create some music of my own inspired by him for the people hearing about him for the first time.

Jahad: Bennie Maupin says next year, he hopes to produce the first recordings of the newly discovered Dolphy compositions from nearly 50 years ago.