By Dan Bilawsky

A recording like Live At The Artists’ Quarter showcases the works from this album, with a few other Dolphy tunes and one original thrown into the set. The Out To Lunch Quintet, to their credit, manage to stay fairly loyal to Dolphy’s musical creations and, surprisingly given my previous attempts to really dig into Out To Lunch, draw me into the music and give me a real appreciation for these songs. ...

The slightly looser and more organic feel, created by Tom Lewis on bass and Phil Hey on drums, makes all the difference. ...

The tone of the record, while nailing all of the songs, is a bit brighter than the original work. This might be why I am more inclined to listen to these Dolphy interpretations than the originals. ...

The Out To Lunch Quintet should be applauded for their outstanding interpretations of Eric Dolphy’s work and they certainly opened my ears to some of this classic material.

Read complete review here: www.jazzimprov.com/util/cd_reviews.cfm?review_id=18  

"...  trumpet, sax and vibes collectively solo in and out of time with the rhythm section commenting on the intervallic relations in the tune and with each other, a fast tumbler with a three way dialogue, or five if you like.  ... played with connoisseur’s attention to detail."
- Grego Applegate Edwards, Cadence Magazine, www.cadencebuilding.com
 

First of all, any local jazz community outside of New York that can pull off a credible rendition of Eric Dolphy's landmark Out to Lunch is a metropolis worth celebrating. That's the present this quintet awards us. Dolphy's time signatures and the floating rhythms, gusty momentum shifts, and passionate avant-garde-meets-tradition purée that poured out of the all-star quintet he assembled more than 40 years ago is no mean feat to approximate—and that's assuming you've got quality, sophisticated players on bass clarinet, flute, and vibraphone to call upon in the first place. Originally a one-gig affair, the OTLQ generated so much creative fun that they did it again over two nights in June at the AQ with the recording equipment on. ... 

Unlike a lot of projects in which jazz diehards get together to pay tribute to a relatively obscure legend, the all-star local ensemble that performed Coltrane peer Eric Dolphy's most celebrated album at the AQ in June didn't geek out with their arrangements or turn to the avant-garde. This eight-song collection (including one original by Kelly Rossum) appeals to Dolphy's would-be masses with a wistful and elegant set anchored by David Milne's reed work and Dave Hagedorn's ear-candy vibes. Chris Riemenschneider, Minneapolis Star Tribune

© 2006, Andrea Canter, Jazzink.com

“Dolphy was clearly ahead of his time and in some ways timeless. At first it sounded interesting, but it seemed to be mostly random sounds. I have had many decades of jazz listening since and have come to respect the place this recording holds in jazz history as well as the timeless beauty of it as a work of art. It sounds so fresh it could've been recorded last week, and I think that it will always sound that way.”  --Don Berryman, Producer, The Out to Lunch Quintet: Live at the Artists Quarter 

It was a very cold, snowy night in February 2006, maybe the coldest of the winter. The St. Olaf College campus in Northfield, MN—and the Twin Cities Jazz Society winter concert--were 40 subzero minutes away. Reluctantly, I agreed to join Jazz Police “Chief” Don Berryman for the debut performance of The Out to Lunch Quintet (aka OTLQ)—an ensemble of esteemed local jazzmen who were recreating the music from the famous Eric Dolphy recording. Aside from misgivings about the weather, I just didn’t remember enjoying the original Out to Lunch. It had been years since I listened to it, and I only recalled that the music confused me. Within a few minutes of the set in Northfield, my confusion had dissolved into rapt attention, followed by sheer delight in the interplay of sound and rhythm. Maybe my tastes have evolved and what once struck me as mere annoying dissonance is now a welcome challenge in aural organization. Or maybe the energy of a live performance simply transcends whatever intellectual shortcomings I bring to the compositions of Eric Dolphy. To the credit of producer Berryman, associate producer Kenny Horst, and the five musicians who saw the opportunities afforded by this project, the energy and invention first heard on stage in Northfield have been faithfully captured through a live recording session, this time at the Artists Quarter.