Eric Dolphy - Outward Bound

"…Of this set of 25 albums being doled out over the next year, this is my favorite title of the bunch…This is the place to start for music lovers who would like to explore something a little more avant-garde, but are not feeling comfortable enough to leap straight in at the deep end of the pool…Hoffman and Gray have spun gold with these tapes…Like most of the titles in the Fantasy 45 Series, this new version takes the sound quality up a couple notches from the original. Top recommendation." – Dennis D. Davis, Hi-Fi+, Issue 51

Dolphy had left his native California and come east as part of Chico Hamilton's group, settling in New York in 1960 and becoming part of Charles Mingus's group. This first recording as a leader brought comparisons with Ornette Coleman but the two were really parallel figures in the then-emerging avant-garde. Dolphy did not eschew "changes," as Coleman did, but he used them in new ways. This LP was significant not only for his alto saxophone but introduced his individual approach to the flute and, particularly, the bass clarinet.