6. Eric DolphyOut There
I fell head over heels for Eric Dolphy. He’s from Los Angeles and I’ve been listening to a lot of West Coast jazz recently because I’ve been playing it for my kids. I was interested in how other musicians spoke about Dolphy. He didn’t smoke, he didn’t do drugs, he walked around the neighbourhood and talked to people about how the birds sound. There are amazing live recordings where he’s playing with John Coltrane, a big supporter of his. That speaks to my imagination of John Coltrane and how open he was to where innovation comes from. All of this painted this picture of Eric Dolphy as this huge role model for me. I’ve gone through a lot that you could deem as cliché or a certain path, but here’s someone who is kind, who didn’t feel the need to do drugs. And most importantly, you can hear it. His different approach to life and being a human being is very audible to me; you hear his humanity. More importantly, I think he affects other people who have strong characters, he impacts their characteristics or qualities. He made everyone around him better.
