Jazz Articles about John Ellis

About John Ellis

Album Review

"The jazz bandstand is where true democracy lives," the great saxophonist and composer Jimmy Heath told a young Helen Sung. “Everyone must understand their role and come prepared by doing the hard work of study and practice," he said. “Each person will get to say their piece, but it is in the act of integrating as a band that the musicians ultimately create something bigger, richer, and deeper." Oracles launches into a time and place where divisions are deep and ...

Album Review

Erica von Kleist: Picc Pocket

Read "Picc Pocket" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 22, 2026

Those who favor puns and clever wordplay should get their kicks from the song titles alone on Picc Pocket, a splendid new recording by piccolo guru Erica von Kleist 's hand-picced--and fun-loving-- quartet and its spicc-tacular guest artists, trombonist Jennifer Krupa and tenor saxophonist John Ellis. The piccolo (a close cousin of the flute) isn't often heard in a jazz context, which makes the enterprise even more picc-taking and picc-turesque. Von Kleist is a master of the instrument ...

Album Review

Davy Mooney, Ko Omura: The Word

Read "The Word" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
April 2, 2026

Il chitarrista statunitense Davy Mooney e il batterista giapponese Ko Omura riprendono in mano una collaborazione risalente al 2018, che aveva già fruttato l'album Benign Strangers, edito da Sunnyside, e che era stata bloccata dalla pandemia, a cui fa seguito questo The Word per la medesima etichetta. Il lavoro vede in azione la stessa formazione di allora, un quintetto completato dall'eclettico sassofonista e clarinettista John Ellis, dall'eccellente e ormai ben noto pianista Glenn Zaleski e dal contrabbassista Matt ...

Album Review

Maria Schneider Orchestra: American Crow

Read "American Crow" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 24, 2026

Maria Schneider has a thing for birds. Credible sources have reported sightings of the jazz composer frequenting Central Park wearing a floppy hat, a pair of binoculars hanging from her neck. Her 20-plus minute “Cerulean Skies," from her album (one of her masterpieces) Sky Blue (ArtistShare, 2007) speaks to her love for birds; her fascination with their migratory nature and their arduous flights, which span continents and beyond. The composition “Bluebird," from the “Our Natural World"' half of her 2-disc ...

Album Review

John Ellis & Double Wide: Fireball

Read "Fireball" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
February 24, 2026

La spinta, la propulsione, la pienezza, che può generare la presenza di una tuba (o di un sousaphone, come accade qui) all'interno di un combo jazz è indiscutibile, generalmente tangibilissima, almeno se il suo impiego è di natura prevalentemente (ma non esclusivamente, attenzione) ritmica. Il Double Wide diretto ormai da quasi vent'anni dal cinquantunenne polistrumentista e compositore John Ellis ne è esempio quanto mai tipico. Ellis è nativo della Carolina del Nord, si è formato musicalmente a New ...

Album Review

Jon Gordon: 7th Ave South

Read "7th Ave South" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 29, 2024

Some of life's moments, even when buried in the past, remain almost as fresh and memorable as today's. Such is alto saxophonist Jon Gordon's memory of his first visit to New York City's then-jazz center, Greenwich Village's 7th Avenue South, which was “the first place [he] ever heard live jazz in New York." That was in 1983--nearly four decades ago--but that memory and those that followed were enough to inspire Gordon's latest album, appropriately titled 7th Ave South.

Album Review

Etienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie

Read "Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
September 2, 2024

A 18 anni di distanza dal debutto discografico in Culture Shock il trombettista originario di Trinidad & Tobago, si cimenta come bandleader di un ampio organico, in una lussureggiante sintesi di ritmi caraibici e orchestrazioni che vanno dalla tradizione Swing all'hip hop. L'orchestra è un ampliamento della sua storica Creole Soul Band e ospita la cantante René Marie in quattro brani. Etienne ha iniziato a scrivere per ampi organici a partire dalla collaborazione con la stessa cantante ...