Don Ellis

Before he became famous for his big band time signature experiments and film score composing Don Ellis (1934-1978) was a questing avant-gardist and these tracks from the early 1960s chronicle his evolution from freebopper to freejazzer. On the initial five tracks backed by a classic hard bop rhythm section of pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Charlie Persip, Ellis establishes his superlative trumpet skills while the bassist walks, the drummer rolls and the pianist comps. Byard’s ragtime feints and raucous solos when he switches to alto saxophone (!) hint at sound evolution. Expressed first on “Waste” whose three tempos zigzag among rounded open horn trills, sly quotes and staccato snarls from Ellis without upsetting the theme, the stretch towards freedom is most notable on the nearly 22½ minute “Improvisational Suite 1”. Retaining conventions that include head recapitulation and swing, Ellis splinters the narrative with muted slurs, ascending triplets and plunger whines encouraged by arco bass buzzes, tympani-like wobbles and Byrd’s somehow simultaneous reed mewls and piano pedal point.

Two years later the remaining five tracks situate Ellis within free music accompanied by pianist Paul Bley, bassist Gary Peacock and drummers Gene Stone or Nick Martinis. The pianist maintaining a bouncy groove, although exerted basement pressure and internal string stretches aid in the transformation as do the bassist’s vaulting thumps and the drummers’ hard ruffs. Bending protracted plunger tones or single note pointillism to his needs, Ellis’ contrapuntal responses to Bley’s advances enrich the tracks. Most notable are the exposition build up on “Ostinato” and working through the repeats and stops on “Donkey”. On the former, Ellis counters Bley’s downward pressure with vibrated ascending triplets. On the latter it’s Peacock’s col legno smacks, double-time keyboard work and intermittent brass peeps that threaten to disrupt the stop-time theme, that is finally returned to a swing pulse by combining drum ruffs and brass wallows.

Had he lived longer Ellis may have become another movie journeyman or he may have continued sound exploring. This disc is a tantalizing glimpse of his first movements in the latter direction.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. … How Time Passes 2. Sallie 3. A Simplex One 4. Waste 5. Improvisational Suite 1 6. Slow Space* 7. Ostinato*# 8. Donkey 9. Form# 10. Irony*

Personnel: Don Ellis (trumpet) and on (tracks 1-5): Jaki Byard  (piano, alto saxophone): Ron Carter (bass) and Charlie Persip (drums) or (tracks 6-10): Paul Bley (piano); Gary Peacock (bass); Gene Stone* or Nick Martinis# (drums)