Eric Dolphy’s playing style in the Vienna Art Orchestra’s performance

Aiming on the very musical expression intended, ‘‘tone colorist‘‘ Eric Dolphy in his developed avantgarde jazz playing style on alto sax and bass clarinet as well as on flute makes use of several extraordinary playing techniques (e.g., multiphonics). In musically portraying him [Nine immortal non‐evergreens for Eric Dolphy, Amadeo 537 096‐2], the now 20‐year‐old Vienna Art Orchestra in a postmodern way renders Dolphy’s compositions in their very performance style, adopts and adorns his melodies typically performed in a highly expressive, noise‐inducing way with their own instruments’ rich means of expressions, allowing also for brass instruments. Consequently, the bass clarinet in Hat and Beard is given in solos of trumpet, trombone, and alto sax, the flute in Gazzelloni reflected in both trumpet and f‐ horn solos, or the alto sax in Straight Up and Down expressed in solos of either trumpet, trombone, and alto sax, respectively. In sound analyses along with sound examples the paper compares several of Dolphy’s playing techniques in his original late recordings (1964) with the recent performances by the Vienna Art Orchestra (1995), focusing on the wind instruments’ (unusual) sounds as part of the personal aesthetics of expression in both model Dolphy and the Vienna Art Orchestra.