'An astonishingly accomplished performance' (The Penguin Guide To Jazz)

The 3-CD package is beautifully designed and includes an exhaustive booklet replete with rare and never-before-published photos by Chuck Stewart, Jean-Pierre Leloir, Val Wilmer, Hans Harzheim, Lennart Steen, Roger Marshutz and many others, plus reproductions of the original album covers for Conversations and Iron Man.

Much of what remained of his final year was spent in the company of Mingus's touring band, but Dolphy seems much more at home with an awesome line-up typical of the "outside-in" sessions on Blue Note during the mid-sixties. Here, he is reunited with the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who had played on Dolphy's Prestige debut, along with the percussive, chimings of Bobby Hutcherson's vibes and the freewheeling drums of Tony Williams. There is an incredible sense of fun and warmth in these performances which display exceptional unity and cohesion yet remain utterly free of the strictures of harmony or rhythm. 'Hat And Beard' sees Dolphy paying homage to the great pianist Thelonius Monk and 'Gazzelloni', a tribute to the classical musician Severiano, should be heard for an example of how utterly original Dolphy was as flautist. (Album Leaves, the BIRDpages Record Review)

A genius artist of startling originality, Dolphy managed to possess the revolutionary spirit of the avant-garde while keeping a foot firmly planted in the feeling of swing, a rare feat that the five original pieces here perfectly captured from the offbeat swagger of the opening Monk tribute "Hat and Beard" to the careening closer "Straight Up and Down."