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Far Cry is a jazz album by Eric Dolphy with trumpeter Booker Little, originally released in 1962 on New Jazz, a subsidiary of the Prestige label. Featuring their co-led quintet, it is one of the few studio recordings of their partnership. It is also one of the earliest appearances of bassist Ron Carter on record. Dolphy took part in Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz session before recording this album on the same day.


AllMusic Review by Al Campbell:
Charlie Parker’s influence permeates this 1960 session. Beyond the obvious acknowledgment on song titles (“Mrs. Parker of K.C. [‘Bird’s Mother’]” and “Ode to Charlie Parker”), his restless spirit is utilized as a guiding light for breaking bebop molds. Far Cry finds multi-reedist Eric Dolphy in a transitional phase, relinquishing Parker’s governing universal impact and diving into the next controversial phase that critics began calling “anti-jazz.” On this date Booker Little’s lyrical trumpet and Jackie Byard’s confident grasp of multiple piano styles (though both steeped in hard bop) were sympathetic to the burgeoning “avant-garde” approach that Dolphy displays, albeit sparingly, on this session. Far Cry contains the initial performance of Dolphy’s future jazz classic “Miss Ann,” along with his first recorded solo alto sax performance on “Tenderly,” in which Dolphy bridges the gap between the solo saxophone performances of Coleman Hawkins and Anthony Braxton (https://goo.gl/AAX9XG).


Track listing:
Side one
“Mrs. Parker of K.C. (Bird’s Mother)” (Jaki Byard) – 8:03
“Ode to Charlie Parker” (Byard) – 8:42
“Far Cry” (Eric Dolphy) – 3:55

Side two:
“Miss Ann” (Dolphy) – 4:17
“Left Alone” (Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron) – 6:41
“Tenderly” (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) – 4:20
“It’s Magic” (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn) – 5:40

Personnel:
Eric Dolphy – bass clarinet on “Mrs. Parker of K.C.,” “It’s Magic,” and “Serene”; flute on “Ode to Charlie Parker” and “Left Alone”; alto sax all other tracks
Booker Little – trumpet
Jaki Byard – piano
Ron Carter – bass
Roy Haynes – drums

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Released: 1962
Recorded: December 21, 1960
Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ [1]
Length: 41:38
Label: New Jazz
NJ 8270
Producer: Esmond Edwards