Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions is the first official release of previously-unissued Eric Dolphy studio recordings in over 30 years! This release contains the masterpiece albums Conversations and Iron Man recorded in NYC in July, 1963. The 3CD set features jazz greats such as saxophonist Sonny Simmons, trumpeter Woody Shaw, bassist Richard Davis and NEA Jazz Master vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. The 100 pg.booklet includes rare and unpublished photos, essays and interviews.

Dolphy was a distinctive stylist, his solos looping off like inflated balloons set free with their stems untied, shooting off on the up-tempo tunes in circuitously-swirling, erratic real-time flights, like a panicked bird; sometimes (on the ballads, and especially when he’s playing bass clarinet) in a languid, elastic slow motion. On alto sax and bass clarinet he’s probably the most recognizable jazz voice in a blindfold test (All About Jazz).