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Blues for the Bad ManJohn Ellis  FWR101Philadelphia PA -- Sept 9, Oct 19 & Dec 7, 1998 Hear it! 
Buy it!
John Ellis: trumpet Chris Potter: tenor saxophone [except on 7 & 8] Michael Brecker: tenor saxophone on 7 & 8 
Edward Simon: pianoEddie Gomez: bass Al Foster: drums Ron Thomas: keyboards Ron Reuben: bass clarinet Don Alias: percussion Horn section on 8: Dave Bilger, Chris Martin, Bob Earley: trumpets Nitzan Haroz: trombone Denis DiBlasio, Ron Kerber, Bill Zaccagne, Ron Reuben: saxophones
 Man, talk about yer eye-openers! This trumpet-playing Ellis guy was a complete unknown to me until I heard this disc, but I now know that his obscurity is utterly undeserved. This is hands down one of the finest jazz recordings I have ever heard! It’s hard to know where to start... The compositions, all Ellis originals, are lyrical, singable, memorable... classically formed but not in a “heard it all before” way. And yet they leave plenty of space for exploration, which is exactly what this all-star band does. Plenty of daring sections along the lines of mid-60s Miles. And Ellis’s arrangements make impressive use of bass clarinet in the ensemble passages, to give his music the sort of sinew and weight that Harry Carney gave to the Ellington orchestra -- very nice stuff! And I’m gonna steal a riff from Randy Brecker’s liner notes here and comment that the sound production and engineering on these tracks is breathtaking -- bass and drums especially emerge with distinct clarity and power, not because they’ve been pushed forward in the mix but because the overall sound is so crystalline. You can hear everything, it’s like being there. All jazz recordings should sound so good! [The lo-fi sample clips used at this site give you no idea of the sonic beauty of the original...] Chris of course is in excellent form throughout, making sure that this envelope gets pushed. And once again we see that good things always happen when he and Al Foster work together -- I think there is no drummer more suited for Chris. [Some equally suited, yes; more suited, no.] Everyone plays excellently and the ensemble interplay is astonishing at times... but we expect that from players of this caliber. The real surprise in this respect is leader Ellis himself; listen to him and you’ll wonder why he doesn’t have an equally awesome rep. There’s an intangible something in the sound of some trumpeters -- Dizzy, Clifford, Lester Bowie, Lee Morgan, classic-era Miles and Freddie Hubbard -- which declares mastery in no uncertain terms. A sound that says confidence and assurance, that says “I know what I’m doing, I got it down”. John Ellis has got that thing in his horn as well, and it makes him well worthy to stand amongst these stellar musicians as a peer. The final result is a staggeringly good album which reveals new facets and depths with each listen. |
