Sunday, June 8, 2008

Hale Smith Entrusts Manuscripts of His Late Friend Eric Dolphy To Flutist James Newton

The flutist James Newton came into possession of Dolphy’s handwritten manuscripts through his teacher Hale Smith, a close friend of Dolphy’s with whom the great saxophonist/bass clarinetist/flutist deposited his trove of original sheet music days before he left for Europe with Charles Mingus in 1964, never to return. Now in fading health, Smith recently phoned Newton to entrust him with the collection. His instructions to Newton were simple: “You gotta take care of this.” [Hale Smith (b. 1925), is an African American composer, pianist and professor who is profiled at AfriClassical.com]







No comments: