Multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy was born on June 20, 1928 in Los Angeles, and had one of the most influential careers in jazz despite his early death. His parents had immigrated to the United States from Panama, and they made sure young Eric had private music lessons on saxophone and clarinet beginning at age six.
​
While in junior high school he began to play the oboe and considered a career in classical music and was sufficiently proficient while attending Dorsey High School to be offered a scholarship to study music at the University of Southern California. During college he played with Art Farmer and Jimmy Knepper as a member of Roy Porter’s big band and made his first recordings with that group.

In 1950 Dolphy was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. Two years later he was studying at the Navy Music School. Following his discharge, he returned to southern California and played with Gerald Wilson’s ensemble among others. When he was 26, Eric recorded with Clifford Brown and in 1958 began playing with Chico Hamilton’s quintet.

By the early 1960s Eric Dolphy was making a name for himself while playing with Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Oliver Nelson and Booker Little. He recorded his first album as a leader was “Outward Bound” released in 1960. Six more records featuring Dolphy as leader were released over the next four years. Following his death in 1964, recordings of 22 additional Eric Dolphy dates, both live and in the studio were made available.

Eric Dolphy died from undiagnosed diabetes in Berlin on June 29, 1964 at the age of 36. Dolphy is often categorized as a free jazz or avant-garde musician, but his playing encompassed more than that. He was an important figure in popularizing the flute in jazz and was the leading figure in introducing the bass clarinet to the genre.

Here is a link to a performance of the Charles Mingus Sextet featuring an Eric Dolphy solo on bass clarinet. The group performs a Duke Ellington standard during an appearance in Norway:

"TAKE THE A TRAIN"