Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. The Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon claims his new album Dolphyology: Complete Eric Dolphy for Solo Guitar is “the first time the complete Eric Dolphy songbook has been recorded on a single solo instrument.”
The audacious endeavor is as intellectually admirable as it is artistically precarious. Yet partly because it arrives in the wake of guitarist Miles Okazaki’s acclaimed arrangements of Thelonious Monk compositions, a surprisingly wonderful parallel pandemic project by John Pizzarelli and the like-minded initiatives of guitarist Pasquale Grasso, Dolphyology doesn’t seem like a novelty.
Salamon’s irreverent approach and sympathetic technique allow his risky gamble to pay off. The interpretations range from the pastoral optimism associated with Pat Metheny to the sort of jagged freakouts played by the likes of Marc Ribot. Even better, Dolphyology rekindles the admiration of this foolishly delinquent Dolphyphile.