Pianist Joel Futterman pays a tribute to late alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy through six Dolphy original compositions, plus one Mal Waldron track and two Futterman originals referencing Dolphy's well-known Blue Note record, "Out to Dinner" parts one & two, each track unedited with no overdubs and the album presented in the sequence in which it was recorded.
"Putting together a tribute album to any major improviser is pointless unless the appreciator brings something new to the honoree's music. That's the particular appeal of these sessions. Joel Futterman's solo piano salute to multi-reedman Eric Dolphy forces you to hear some of the reedist's best-known compositions with fresh ears.
Playing solo, there's no way Futterman could have been similarly self-effacing on Remembering Dolphy. But as a pianist he avoids any obvious comparisons. Also, unlike Dolphy, whose death at 36 in 1964 meant that his conception was as a ModernPostbop at its most advanced, yet At the same time this CD isn't out-and-out abstract. As a post-modernist, Futterman's walking bass work is more reminiscent of Earl Hines or boogie-woogie stylists than anything post-1945. Therefore no matter how splintered and staccato his broken chording becomes during narrative variations, the steadily paced syncopation keeps grounded rhythm on show.
For instance "Miss Ann" almost gains a ragtime interface at the top, as Futterman skitters across the keys, creating a bouncing steeplechase of passing tones and chords. As his chord formation varies from paced and processional to kinetic syncopation, the theme formation stays mid-range throughout, dropping into the bass register at certain times for added stimulation. By the finale as he makes the piano keys seem as malleable as plasticine, Futterman appears to have two lines moving concurrently. One is super staccato and the other decorates the first with sudden feints, pumps and flicks. Used frequently throughout, this skill often suggests that he's extemporizing an original, often tremolo melody to complement the Dolphy line on which he's improvising. That is most obvious on "Potsa Lotsa".
Futterman has other tricks up his sleeve - or more properly in his fingers - as well. "Les", a lesser-known Dolphy line become bravura and funky, hinting at more conventional standards as he plays. Building on the theme and letting it flow, the pianist contrasts highly syncopated rubato choruses, low-frequency deep-in-the piano-innards rumbles and splintered strokes on the external keys. When it comes to pianist Mal Waldron's "Fire Waltz", famously played by Dolphy with its composer at the Five Spot, Futterman takes fewer liberties and refers more to the theme, as benefits a tune created by a pianist thoroughly grounded in Bop. Futterman's descending soulful cadences manage to capture Waldron's roots as well as his subsequent experimentation. This is no duplicate treatment though; when recapping the head, Futterman turns it inside out as he celebrates it.
Influential Jazzmen from earlier times deserve to be honored. Joel Futerrman has shown how it can be done without insulting their memory with rote imitation."-Ken Waxman