Trumpeter Don Ellis’ star shot brightly and quickly. He only lived 44 years, made a BIG impact at the time of his recordings (even composing for the movie The French Connection) and then died of a heart failure. At the time of these recordings from 1960-1962, he was known for having a penetratingly poignant tone and a then-revolutionary approach to chord structure and time signatures. What seemed wild and freaky then sounds simply fresh nowadays on the quartet session with Jaki Byard/p-as, Ron Carter/b and Charlie Persip where he sears through “How Time Passes” and “waste.” Vibist Al Francis makes it a quintet which is not needed when Ellis delivers a “Solo” that is wondrously well conceived and delivered, but when they are all together on “Cock and Bull” and “Uh-Huh” the mix of the cerebral and the celebratory is scrumptious. Ellis’ 1962 quartet has him with a Polish band of Wojciech Karolak/p, Roman Dylag/b and Andrzej Dabrowski/dr producing a unique “Soloes” in which each artist goes it alone before passing off the baton, while a 21 minute “Nihil Nove” with the National Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra sounds like a jazz version of a Bartok Concerto. Creative, original and still accessible while stretching your ears. What more would you want?
Fresh Sound Records