Eric Dolphy

In addition both Dolphy and Little backed Abbey Lincoln on her album Straight Ahead and played on Max Roach's Percussion Bitter Sweet. Dolphy finally had his big break as a member of Chico Hamilton's quintet. He picked up the clarinet at the age of six and in less than a month was playing in the school's orchestra.

He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz and among the earliest significant flute soloists. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. (June 20 1928 – June 29 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist flautist and bass clarinetist.