Don Ellis
James Scott u
The first time I saw "The French Connection" I really enjoyed the crazy
soundtrack music. The composer was Don Ellis. I also read somewhere
that he recorded an album on the Candid label, so I'm guessing that he is
a jazz performer. Could someone tell me a little about his life and work
and if any of his stuff is as interesting as his "French Connection"
soundtrack music?
Thanks,
James
Jeff Beer
From what I remember of that movie, he never did anything like that with
his big bands. He did do the theme, but I remember most the other stuff
from that movie being more like avant garde classical music, "sounds"
stuff. I might be wrong. I know he did another movie before that,
I think it was an English sci-fi movie about emerald pirates in outer
space.
Jeff
Ashish Banerjee
writes:
Don Ellis's work is archived at NTSU (I think); if you run a web search
using his name, you'll end up at the Don Ellis website, and you can
pick up some more info about his life and work. (sorry - don't have the
URL handy).
Jassistone
written in time signatures other than 4/4. He used a quarter tone trumpet
which had four valves allowing quarter tones to be played at will. He had
several albums produced. Check the used record stores and buy anything you
can get your hands on. L.P .albums such as Live at the Fillmore and
Soaring are some of my favorites.
Geoffrey North
: The first time I saw "The French Connection" I really enjoyed the crazy
: soundtrack music. The composer was Don Ellis. I also read somewhere
: that he recorded an album on the Candid label, so I'm guessing that he is
: a jazz performer. Could someone tell me a little about his life and work
: and if any of his stuff is as interesting as his "French Connection"
: soundtrack music?
: Thanks,
: James
Though I don't believe that Ellis composed any of the music on the album,
an excellent place to hear some fairly extended solos by Ellis is the
George Russell album "Ezz-Thetics" now on OJC. Besides Ellis, there are
the added benefits of some remarkable playing by Eric Dolphy and David Baker.
-gn
Robert Eye
which is poart of the Dallas County Community College district. He apparently
developed some close connections there over the years, and the archive was
established shortly after his death. Over the years, he appeared with the
Eastland jazz ensemble to help fund raining activities.
Regards,
Bob Eye
(in Dallas, still trying to find time to get over to see the collection)
Lee Brenkman
> The first time I saw "The French Connection" I really enjoyed the crazy
> soundtrack music. The composer was Don Ellis. I also read somewhere
> that he recorded an album on the Candid label, so I'm guessing that he is
> a jazz performer. Could someone tell me a little about his life and work
> and if any of his stuff is as interesting as his "French Connection"
> soundtrack music?
Don Ellis was a trumpeter, drummer and bandleader who recorded many albums
for Pacific Jazz in the mid 1960s and
for Columbia in the late 1960s and early 1970's. He was a pioneer in the use
of unusual time signatures, electronic amplification and effects in big band
music. Sometimes the band would number over 20 musicians with three drummers
and an anplified string quartet in addition to the usual big band compliment.
Most of the recordings are, alas, out of print or unavailable on cd.
If you have a web browser there is a Don Ellis Home Page administered by a fan
I don't have the URL with me now but I'll email it if I find it soon.
Cheers,
Lee Brenkman
Dave Powell
of odd meter jazz. One of his tunes was written in 33/16 time. He used
many different types of instrumentation and incorporated solo electric
violin in one of his bands. Don died at a very early age, (I believe in
the late thirties or perhaps age forty). Some of his work is now on CD
and I believe I saw it at http://www.CDnow.com . Also, a fine web site
is at http://www.mbnet.ca/~mcgonig/donellis.html
Don was an artist who is certainly worth researching today.
Regards,
__Dave Powell
Dave Powell
for the Don Ellis web site URL. I apologize for this typo and here is
the correct one. The site contains excellent information as well as
available sheet music for purchase at a very, very resonable price.
Here is the URL: http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~mcgonig/donellis.html
Regards.
__Dave Powell
PRProf
group; always a discussion of some favorite musician), I'd recommend the
original poster seek out "Electric Bath," still one of my all-time
favorite vinyls. It affected me on its first hearing almost as much as
when I initially heard Trane's "Giant Steps." And it remains my favorite
Ellis (and I have a number of original Ellis vinyls). The opening track,
"Indian Lady," will just blow you away. Amazing what Ellis did with
relatively unknown musicians. What genius.
Bill Adams
(PRP...@aol.com)
CHUCKBRASS
1. "Electric Bath" - GNPD 2223 - GNP Crescendo Records
2. "Out Of Nowhere" - Candid 9032
3. "How Time Passes" - Candid 9004
The first is Don Ellis with a big band. . . CRANKING!!
#2 is a trio session with Paul Bley and "?" Swallow.
#3 is a quartet session including Jaki Byard.
All of these I just saw this weekend at "Tower Records" in Denver, Co.
Also, #'s 2 and 3 are available through Cadence Jazz Magazine. Call:
(315) 287 - 2852. They also have an AWESOME jazz review magazine!!
Hope this helps,
Chuckbrass
William R. Barner
: The first time I saw "The French Connection" I really enjoyed the crazy
: soundtrack music. The composer was Don Ellis. I also read somewhere
: that he recorded an album on the Candid label, so I'm guessing that he is
: a jazz performer. Could someone tell me a little about his life and work
: and if any of his stuff is as interesting as his "French Connection"
: soundtrack music?
: Thanks,
: James
When I was in college, 1969-1973, Ellis' big band was very popular with
high school and college musicians. His Los Angeles-based band featured
John Klemmer and a teenaged Tom Scott. As others have mentioned, odd
meters were his big thing as well as the special quarter tone trumpet
but he also experimented with an electronic circuit called a ring modulator
and with tape delay effects during his solos. The first album of his that
I heard was called "Live in Three and Two Thirds/Four Time". One of his
tunes in 5/4 time, "Indian Lady", was played by many college jazz bands
in those days. Hank Levy is the name of one composer/arranger who worked
with him. "Turkish Bath" is the title of one album. The last album I
bought contained an arrangement of the Beatles "Hey Jude". I saw the
band a couple of times; they played at my Northern California college.
As I recall he played drums, too.
Bill Barner
Dave Fields
You forgot one - "New Ideas" on Prestige/New Jazz/OJC
Michael Good
see the album "Autumn" here in the US as a French import.
If you do, grab it immediately; it's another fine album
and hard to find on CD here.
If you have good jazz used record stores near you, you can
probably find many of the LPs. Looney Tunes in Boston for
instance has a good selection. My two favorite albums are
"Live at Fillmore" and "Tears of Joy" and maybe someday
somebody will release these on CD, though they are both
double albums that are just a little too long to fit on
one CD.
You may also see the "Connection" album with the theme from
"The French Connection" on it and be tempted to buy it.
Go ahead, but be warned that the theme is by far the best
chart on the album. This is one of Ellis' weakest albums.
"Underground" and "Star Wars" are two others I would avoid
until you become such a fan that you must have everything.
I got hooked on Don Ellis's music when we played "Final
Analysis" in a jazz band at Interlochen. It was so wild
I had to find out more about the composer. That led me
to the "Live at Fillmore" album and I quickly became a
big fan. Unfortunately I was a fan too late - this was
in 1974, after Ellis had already been very sick for a year.
Appearances were infrequent during the last few years of his
life, though he did record a couple more albums, including a
very nice "Live at Montreux" on Atlantic.
Michael Good
michae...@sap-ag.de