© 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.

Dave Milne, Kelly Rossum, Phil Hey, Tom Lewis, Dave Hagedorn (photos © Andrea Canter)

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