Eric Dolphy isn't for everyone. He was a fiercely original musician who helped lead jazz's avant-garde in the early 1960s before his premature death in 1964. The first time you hear Dolphy, you'll probably think, "um, that's just weird." But Dolphy is an acquired taste that is very much worth acquiring, as he was one of the most inventive musicians in jazz. Here's Dolphy leading a quintet with Booker Little on trumpet in Germany in 1961, playing the tune "GW" from the album Outward Bound:(While you're at it, don't miss the solo bass clarinet performance of God Bless the Child from the same concert.)

  If you want to here more Eric Dolphy, there are lots of possibilities, as he was widely recorded in the 1960-64 window. If you want to start with some of his more accessible work, you might begin with Dolphy's playing as a sideman (alto and flute) on John Coltrane's Ole in 1961. Dolphy's masterpiece is Out to Lunch!, recorded just four months before he died. It's an incredible performance, but it's also one of his more challenging works; the music is amazing once you get used to it, but that may take some time.