Don Ellis

[Sundog]

Picked this one up a few weeks ago:

A live date from 1967, it's a fascinating "in-between" type thing that goes back and forth between Ellis the intrepid explorer and Ellis the freakshow. If you're looking for clues as to, as Joe Milazzo likes to say about Don Ellis, "what happened?", you may or may not get some insight from this one.

Either way, when it's good, it's damn good.

How's the sound on this one? Is it serviceable? I remember seeing a disclaimer on the packaging.

[mikeweil]

Haiku - I remember that got a very bad review back then in German Jazz Podium magazine - a bland commercial outing they said. I have to admit this is the only Ellis album I never had a listen to. The other MPS LP, Soaring, has a few nice tracks, but is not as thrilling as the best Columbias. Same for the late Atlantics. The Columbia live LPs really were the peak. It's nice that they're out on CD at last. But I still hope for a completed release of the live part of Autumn ......

[AllenLowe]

I know I've said this before but it bears repeating - one of my favorite albums is the one Ellis did for Candid with Jaki Byard - I mentioned it to Byard once and he started going on about how great and important a musician Ellis was - but the kicker was when he said: "and do you know why he doesn't get any credit? Because he was white."

good old Jaki - honest to fault -

Edited April 14, 2006 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Picked this one up a few weeks ago:

A live date from 1967, it's a fascinating "in-between" type thing that goes back and forth between Ellis the intrepid explorer and Ellis the freakshow. If you're looking for clues as to, as Joe Milazzo likes to say about Don Ellis, "what happened?", you may or may not get some insight from this one.

Either way, when it's good, it's damn good.

How's the sound on this one? Is it serviceable? I remember seeing a disclaimer on the packaging.

Serviceable, yes. Bit of missing high-end, but you can still hear everything.

[wigwise]

I know I've said this before but it bears repeating - one of my favorite albums is the one Ellis did for Candid with Jaki Byard - I mentioned it to Byard once and he started going on about how great and important a musician Ellis was - but the kicker was when he said: "and do you know why he doesn't get any credit? Because he was white."

good old Jaki - honest to fault -

I recently picked up an original pressing of this LP on eBay for $7.50. What a treat. I dig Don's playing and the added bonus of Jaki on both Piano and Alto Sax.

[AndrewHill]

I think the best way to approach his work is chronological. Small groups/sideman gigs, early PJ big band sides and proceed thru the Columbias as far as your brain will take you.

That's exactly how I got into Ellis's music. I first started with How Time Passes, which is a great album (I even like Jaki on alto sax...a peculiar, yet interesting style). Then on to New Ideas. I completely agree about Al Francis, that dude can play! Very nice album all around. Essence, though, is incredible! Bley and Peacock are on the case and I never thought I say this, but man can Peacock swing! Essence is probably my favorite of the small groups (I have not heard Out of Nowhere, any thoughts on this one?) Then I went to the PJ big bands. Monterey, in so many ways seems more satisfying then Jazz in7/2/3//4 (or whatever it is). I have not heard the Columbias, but it seems that Electric Bath is the next logical purchase.

[AndrewHill]

As for sideman dates, I think I have Ellis in two places. One is Vintage Dolphy where, if I remember, he is part of a bigger band backing Dolphy, although his solo definitely stands out from the other trumpeter. The other place is on a two cd set called Jazz Loft (which comes with a pretty nifty book) and there he is involved in just one jam session (It Don't Mean a Thing...) where I recall him being featured more prominently. Would like to check out those Russell dates though.

[Late]

Ellis live at Tanglewood, 1968. Dig Frank Strozier and John Klemmer.

And the almost-Sun Ra matching outfits.

[Mark Stryker]

Time capsule.

 

 

[Mark Stryker]

The 1970s were, um, a decade ...

 

[felser]

1 hour ago, Mark Stryker said:

The 1970s were, um, a decade ...

More interesting (though not necessarily more tasteful) than any since then.

[Teasing the Korean]

On 2/22/2016 at 11:16 PM, JSngry said:

You'll want to see/hear the Mission Impossible episode that Ellis scored

It is called "A Cube of Sugar."  There are two amazing tracks on the MI box set:  "500 Micros" and "Prison Pal/That Crazy Cube."  The two collectively add up to 4:38.  I can't find them on the InterTubes.

[Teasing the Korean]

Don Ellis does not seem to have done too much film or TV, in looking at his IMDB resume.  I have both of this French Connection scores, the aforementioned Mission: Impossible score, and his score for the made-for-TV film The Deadly Tower, about the Texas Tower sniper in the 1960s.  

[JSngry]

Don Ellis scored a made for TV movie about Charles Whitman? Where has this been all my life? 

[Teasing the Korean]

9 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Don Ellis scored a made for TV movie about Charles Whitman? Where has this been all my life? 

I saw it when it aired.  Maybe 1976 or so?  I didn't know at the time the score was by Don Ellis, and I may not have even known about him then, except possibly for Electric Bath.  

Edited August 19, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Ken Dryden]

28 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I saw it when it aired.  Maybe 1976 or so?  I didn't know at the time the score was by Don Ellis, and I may not have even known about him then, except possibly for Electric Bath.  

Is that the one that starred Kurt Russell that was filmed at LSU? I seem to recall UT wanted nothing to do with the film, which makes sense.

[Teasing the Korean]

7 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

Is that the one that starred Kurt Russell that was filmed at LSU? I seem to recall UT wanted nothing to do with the film, which makes sense.

Yes, Kurt Russell, although I don't really remember many details.

You can rent it in the US for $4.29 on Amazon Prime.

[JSngry]

You'd be hard pressed to tell it today, but the Whitman shooting really traumatized parts of Texas for a while. It was the OG mass shooting. I would like to see that move. I see it's on Prime.  

[sgcim]

2 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Don Ellis does not seem to have done too much film or TV, in looking at his IMDB resume.  I have both of this French Connection scores, the aforementioned Mission: Impossible score, and his score for the made-for-TV film The Deadly Tower, about the Texas Tower sniper in the 1960s.  

Sadly, the bass player Ellis used on The French Connection", Bill Plummer, died this past year. I found out about it when I saw the premiere of the documentary on Judee Sill in the city. He was Judee Sill's bass player on all her LPs. I was just laughing my head off, because the filmmaker put my name on the credits at the end (special thanks to..) for some research I did for the film, and then the film ended with a dedication to Bill Plummer. I was shocked.

[Teasing the Korean]

23 minutes ago, JSngry said:

You'd be hard pressed to tell it today, but the Whitman shooting really traumatized parts of Texas for a while. It was the OG mass shooting. I would like to see that move. I see it's on Prime.  

The film freaked me out in 1975 or whatever.  It was probably the first US mass shooting, based on how we think about these things now.  

By today's standards, that shooting would make headlines for a few days, until a bigger shooting would take its place. 

[JSngry]

The JFK assassination with looked at as a Dallas thing (and not without reason... But this was UT, and back then, UT was kinda like a secular Vatican of Texas. So...yeah. 

[sgcim]

Peter Bogdonavich also made a movie about the Charles Whitman shooting spree called "Targets". Roger Corman told him he could make any movie he wanted to, but it had to use the set Corman just shot a movie on, and had to use Boris Karloff(!) in it, because Karloff was still under contract to Corman for two more days from the movie Corman just made, "The Terror".

So PD made a movie a retired horror movie star (BK) receiving an award for his horror career at a drive-in Movie theater, and making a speech about how useless horror movies are now, because real life is much more frightening than horror movies.

As he accepts the reward, a real sniper starts shooting people in the audience from a tower.

It was so soon after the Whitman shootings, they had to do some editing to to get it relesfed.

Recently, someone did an animated documentary about the Whitman shooting spree.

[Ken Dryden]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

You'd be hard pressed to tell it today, but the Whitman shooting really traumatized parts of Texas for a while. It was the OG mass shooting. I would like to see that move. I see it's on Prime.  

I remember the extensive article in Life about the mass shooting and photos of his victims. I recall Whitman killed his wife and mother prior to heading to the campus and after he was shot dead, an autopsy revealed a brain tumor. I don’t know if it was ever revealed if he had been diagnosed with it prior to his heinous crimes.

[Chuck Nessa]

I wonder if Whitman's mental issues were a result of his stationing at Camp Lejeune?

[sgcim]

1 hour ago, Ken Dryden said:

I remember the extensive article in Life about the mass shooting and photos of his victims. I recall Whitman killed his wife and mother prior to heading to the campus and after he was shot dead, an autopsy revealed a brain tumor. I don’t know if it was ever revealed if he had been diagnosed with it prior to his heinous crimes.

Whitman left a note before his rampage asking that an autopsy be done on him to find out why he had these homicidal compulsions. The autopsy revealed the brain tumor that some believe caused his homicidal activity. He knew something was wrong with him, but he never found out what it was.