Before
his untimely death in 1978 at the young age of 44, Don
Ellis was one of the most creative and innovative jazz
musicians of all time. In a career span of less than 25
years, Don Ellis distinguished himself as a trumpeter,
drummer, composer, arranger, recording artist, author,
music critic and music educator.
He is
best remembered for his work as a big band leader. His
orchestra, which was active from 1966-78, and in varying
configurations featured a string section, brass sextet
and a woodwind quintet complete with oboe and bassoon,
achieved enormous appeal at a time when the taste for
big band music was fading.
He won
a Grammy Award for his 1972 title composition of the movie
"The French Connection", and his band received 2 Grammy
nominations for their performances on "Live At Fillmore"
and "Soaring".
New
rhythmic devices ultimately became the Don Ellis trademark.
His compositions frequently displayed time signatures
such as 5/4, 7/4, 13/8 and 9/2. Hank Levy, composer of
some of the charts offered here and one of Don’s "co-conspirators"
in the time revolution, once quipped that "Yes, Don and
I do write music in 4/4, we just subdivide it 5-1!" The
compositions offered here are the actual charts, in standard
big band instrumentation, offered by Ellis Music Enterprises
in the 1970s.
