George Russell x Eric Dolphy

At this point in time, if George Russell is recalled for anything it’s probably his composing acumen or his theoretical contributions to jazz. A book that he published during the fifties is often cited as being the basis for much of Miles Davis’ and John Coltrane’s modal work in the following years. That’s obviously as much opinion as fact, though.

Regardless of his writing, teaching or composing, though, Russell up until the time of his death, remained relatively active in the music scene. Of course, as he grew older and those fellowships rolled in, his contributions changed pretty drastically. But even with Russell’s elevated status in the music world, some of his earlier works have maintained a good deal of interest around them. On some occasions, the deference afforded these works has more to do with other player’s performances than Russell’s own. Either way, the pianist and composer left behind some interesting work.

In 1961, along with Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet and alto sax as well as Don Ellis on trumpet, Russell released Ezz-Thetics. The disc isn’t today generally recalled as an important portion of the bop canon. But there are more than a few moments where Dolphy contributes to the disc in ways that weren’t too common at the time.

This early in the ‘60s the sax and clarinet player hadn’t quite gotten down what was to inform his ’64 recording of Out to Lunch. There are moments over Dolphy’s career that pointed to that pinnacle, though, and some are here. Even while it’s probably a travesty to focus just on Dolphy’s contributions, it’s warranted.

The disc being split into three originals by Russell and a few covers works to good effect. The lead off title track finds Ellis taking a sprawling solo amidst the fast paced backing. As knotty as those trumpet lines are, just moments later Dolphy takes over and easily moves the music to places that wouldn’t have been reached otherwise.

Dolphy’s solos on “Ezz-Thetics” comes off as untamable when contrasted with work from other players here. It’s not that Dolphy was necessarily more theoretically advanced than anyone – and specifically Russell – but the band even takes a break for a moment as the sax player finishes an idea during this lead off track.

Ezz-Thetics really shouldn’t be thought of as the Dolphy show, but the other soloists just can’t muster the same sort of energy. “Lydiot,” which directly references Russell’s Lydian scale that influenced Davis and Coltrane, finds Dolphy fitting into a more slowly paced song just as well as the fast bop tracks. In some ways, his work on this track specifically can be seen as a precursor to his ’64 masterwork. Yeah, it’s still all bop and augmented blues, but Dolphy’s playing has that drunken yet determined feel that pretty much no one other than Thelonius Monk was ever able to achieve.

Ezz-Thetics probably has enough highlights from other players to keep listeners occupied, but Dolphy should be more than enough for anyone to enjoy the disc.