"Thank you very much, you make me feel so wonderful. It's been a pleasure being here but I really must go now, it's so hot." - Clifford Brown at the end of his final performance, June 25, 1956
Jazz history is full of personal tragedies; so many of the greats who for various reasons, left us far too soon. For some of these legends, the last music they made adds poignancy to their deaths, assuring fans to take solace in knowing they left us at the top of their game but also left us wondering where their music might have gone had they lived longer. I'm always loathe to declare absolutes in the "best" of anything, because I could end up disagreeing with myself later on and have probably forgotten about some other great records. But I'll offer up five selections that I regard as some of the finest codas in the jazz canon:
Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch (1964): We begin with one of the more famous exits; this avant garde jazz masterpiece is rightfully considered Dolphy's crowning achievement. He started his career as a leader a mere four years earlier and was already stretching the boundaries of the bop conventions then. Every record since represented a discrete progression until he reached perfection with this record. Why is it so great? I think it has to do with his tenure at the time with Charles Mingus. Mingus was a master at looking ahead with his music while staying deeply rooted in jazz tradition.
Thelonius Monk was good at that, too. Dolphy tried for years but finally got it down with this record. And he found a willing young group of co-conspirators: 17 year old Tony Williams, then-unknown Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis, and an in-his-prime Freddie Hubbard. These guys seemed to take turns holding down the fort while the rest played completely free.
It was already well established that Dolphy could play a morbidly badass bass clarinet but here, even his flute sends chills down spines. The music sounded like acid-induced soundtracks for episodes of The Twilight Zone. And in 1964, everyone who heard this must have been trippin' out over it. Without the aid of drugs.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
nice! everybody should own a copy of Out To Lunch. seriously.
Interstellar Space is a good one too. (also good for clearing the room of unwanted guests at the end of a party....;-) )
2 - Stephen V Funk
Nice... I'd also like to put in a good word for Albert Ayler's NUITS DE LA FONDATION MAEGHT 1970 live concert recordings, made just four months before he was found dead in the East River.
3 - Pico
LOL @ Mark...I wish Instellar Space would get rid of roaches, too!
Steve, I thought of Fondation Maeght shorty after I submitted this article (told y'all my memory wasn't great!). A great suggestion, especially since he had that bizarre about face change in his music in '67 or '68, only to change back a few months before dying under the most mysterious of circumstances. Oliver Stone would have a field day doing a movie on this dude's life.
A few that didn't quite make the cut but I thought about are:
Tony Williams "Young At Heart"
Rahsaan Roland Kirk "Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real"
Bill Evans "Live At The Village Vanguard" (for Scott LaFaro)
Cannonball Adderley "Phenix"
What are some other ones I left out, anyone?
4 - Stephen V Funk
Perhaps... Stan Getz: People Time
5 - Mark Saleski
Invitation - Jaco Pastorious
6 - Mark Saleski
...and then there's the last great Miles record.
ok, i don't feel like startin' a fight. have at it!
Star People.
i honestly don't know. there are moments of brilliance in almost all of the stuff after that.
7 - Pico
I love Star People! I almost agree that it was the last great Miles...but I am also fond of Aura, too.
-P
8 - Stephen V Funk
I'm sorry, but Agharta / Pangaea was the last great Miles. What re-emerged as "Miles" five years after that was sort of somebody else.... interesting, sure... but not great.... even Aura is pretty much a confused mess with a few moments of beauty..... and no, I don't wanna start a fight either, but I'm just sayin....
9 - Michael J. West
Anybody know what Ellington's last recording was? Was it the Third Sacred Concert? It was certainly very near the end...
10 - Pico
Alright, a fight!
I'm sorry too, man, but Aura was anything but confused; it's gotten it's accolades for being focused, if for nothing else (even if it's really Mikkelborg's record with Miles guesting on it). And any album with both Sco and Stern on it can't be anything less than great. There's a law somewhere that says that, I just know it.
At least nobody here is saying Doo Bop is da schnitz. At least not yet ;&)
-P
11 - Vern Halen
Ascension is a much better room clearer than Interstellar Space.
12 - JR
Re: Bill Evans's Consecration
The Last Waltz set comes from the same engagement - I think Consecration is afternoon sets, The Last Waltz is the evening sets.
The bass solo on the Wednesday night version of "Nardis" is phenomenal.
13 - Michael J. West
Ascension is also a much better album than Interstellar Space.
14 - Allen Michie
Not strictly jazz, but whatever: Ray Charles's "Genius Loves Company" has moments that send chills down your spine, and they all come from Ray.
Also, Billie Holiday's "Lady in Satin." And I agree with Stephen's comment above about Getz's "People Time." (What was Zoot Sims' last recording? He was sounding better than ever in his final years.)
Miles Davis' last recording is the track "Hannibal" from "Live Around the World," and it has a masterful solo.