Jazz Articles about John Ellis

About John Ellis

Album Review

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension

Read "Dynamic Maximum Tension" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
September 3, 2023

Darcy James Argue's superb double-album Nonesuch debut offers compositions written throughout his career. He turns to twentieth-century thinkers for “ideas that can help us in the present, that we can reexamine and reconfigure for our own purposes." These include futurist designer Buckminster Fuller, cryptanalyst-computer scientist Alan Turing, composer-arranger Bob Brookmeyer, actress-screenwriter Mae West, trumpeter-mentor Laurie Frink, and musician-beyond-category Duke Ellington, among others. Like West, Argue seems to control his own path. He may not yet be the tycoon she was, ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 17, 2023

Eunmi Lee is a quick learner. The South Korean-born pianist, who now makes her home in New York City, did not become acquainted with or interested in jazz until a friend introduced her to the GRP Records catalogue. That was more than a year after she had received a degree in contemporary piano from the Seoul Institute for the Arts, in 2005. Eager to learn more, Lee came to California in 2007 to take part in an open house at ...

Album Review

Manuel Valera Quintet: Vessel

by Chris May
August 7, 2023

Cuban born and raised, pianist and composer Manuel Valera moved to the US in 1994, attending high school in Florida before moving to New York City in 2000 to study at the New School. His classmates included Robert Glasper, Mike Moreno, Michael Rodriguez, Marcus Strickland and E.J. Strickland. Fast company. Valera's career as a leader moved up a notch when his band New Cuban Express received a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Latin Jazz Album for ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 19, 2023

Korean-born, New York-based pianist and composer Eunmi Lee opens her debut record, Introspection with her original composition, “Gimmick." And, if there is a gimmick, it sounds as if it might be her strong compositional voice and her way with an arrangement. The tune features Alan Ferber on trombone, saxophonist John Ellis, a guitar, bass and drums rhythm section, and Lee in the piano chair. In spite of the album's title, this opener is a bright, sassy roller. Maybe the gimmick ...

Album Review

Jeb Patton: Preludes

by Jack Bowers
June 13, 2023

A jazz quintet performing eight classically-inspired Preludes and Duke Ellington's wistful “Prelude to a Kiss"? How could that possibly work? In the capable hands of pianist Jeb Patton (who wrote the Preludes) and his quintet, quite well, actually. Patton, who grew up in a household where listening to classical music was the norm, never forgot those early years even as he moved toward jazz and found his calling there. When Covid struck in 2020, Patton had time to revisit his ...

Album Review

Rudy Royston & Flatbed Buggy: DAY

by Dan McClenaghan
May 17, 2023

Drummer Rudy Royston debuted his group Flatbed Buggy in 2018, with the eponymous Greenleaf Records release. It had the feeling of a jazz-folk chamber group. With its unusual instrumentation--Gary Versace's accordion, Hank Roberts' cello, and John Ellis' bass clarinet joining Royston's drums and Joe Martin's bass--a laid-back and engaging Americana vibe emerged. The follow-up, Day, is more of the same, with a bit more swing. With an ear towards the past, the sound recalls drummer Chico Hamilton's mid-50s ...

Album Review

John Ellis, Andy Bragen: The Ice Siren

Read "The Ice Siren" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
June 23, 2022

Dopo Dreamscapes e MOBRO John Ellis e Andy Bragen firmano un altro lavoro d'ampio respiro, che si snoda in equilibrio tra scrittura cameristica, jazz e opera contemporanea. Ellis ha scritto la musica e partecipa come strumentista; Bragen ha composto il libretto, ispirandosi al filone gothic fantasy di autori come Tim Burton ne “La sposa cadavere" (titolo originale The Corpse Bride). L'opera è stata commissionata dalla Jazz Gallery di New York e presentata lo scorso anno durante ...