Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the same era. His use of the bass clarinet helped to establish the instrument within jazz. Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to employing an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals. He used melodic lines that were "angular, zigzagging from interval to interval, taking hairpin turns at unexpected junctures, making dramatic leaps from the lower to the upper register." 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. Early life, family and education Dolphy was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Sadie and Eric Dolphy, Sr., who immigrated to the United States from Panama. He began music lessons at age six, studying clarinet and saxophone privately. While still in junior high, he began to study the oboe, aspiring to a professional symphonic career, and received a two-year scholarship to study at the music school of the University of Southern California. Aged thirteen, he received a "Superior" award on clarinet from the California School Band and Orchestra festival. He attended Dorsey High School, where he continued his musical studies and learned additional instruments. By 1946, he was co-director of the Youth Choir at the Westminster Presbyterian Church run by Reverend Hampton B. Hawes, father of the jazz pianist of the same name. He graduated in 1947, then attended Los Angeles City College, during which time he played contemporary classical works such as Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat and, along with Jimmy Knepper and Art Farmer, performed with Roy Porter's 17 Beboppers, He went on to make eight recordings with Porter by 1949. On these early sessions, he occasionally played baritone saxophone, as well as alto saxophone, flute and soprano clarinet. Dolphy entered the U.S. Army in 1950 and was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. Beginning in 1952, he attended the Navy School of Music. Following his discharge in 1953, he returned to L.A., where he worked with many