Eric Dolphy
Alto Sax Solo on
Yearnin'

About

Eric Dolphy's alto saxophone solo is the first of three improvisations on this relaxed medium-tempo blues. Taking two choruses of the 12-bar form in C at 109 BPM, Dolphy opens with his characteristically wide intervals and angular phrasing that transform conventional blues language into something strikingly personal. His ability to find new pathways through the most fundamental jazz form is on full display, the moderate tempo allowing his unorthodox intervallic choices to be heard with particular clarity.

Eric Dolphy was 32 to 33 years old at the time.