condition (record/cover): NM / NM

Insert included. No obi.

April 1960: Eric Dolphy's leader debut, out of the gate with Freddie Hubbard and Jaki Byard - three future giants introducing themselves in one Englewood Cliffs session, an embarrassment of arriving riches. The title was a promise kept: alto, flute and bass clarinet already speak the unmistakable Dolphy language, wide intervals and vocal cries inside forms that still nod to bop, one foot planted deep in the tradition and one already through the door it was about to open. "G.W." and "Les" announce a composer as original as the improviser, and the ballad "Glad to Be Unhappy" shows the tenderness that always lived alongside the daring. Few debuts in jazz history arrive this fully formed - the voice complete, the concept clear, only the world needing time to catch up.

Japanese New Jazz pressing on Victor, quiet and present. The beginning of one of the essential discographies in the music, and sixty-five years on it still startles.