Jazz Articles about John Ellis

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John Ellis & Double-Wide: Puppet Mischief

by Russ Musto
March 6, 2010

This second outing by John Ellis & Double Wide, the versatile saxophonist/bass clarinetist's extraordinary New Orleans-based band, one ups the “serious fun" mentality by inviting a pair of guests--harmonica master Gregoire Maret and multifaceted trombonist Alan Ferber--to augment the unusual quartet of sousaphonist Matt Perrine, drummer Jason Marsalis and newcomer Brian Coogan (replacing Gary Versace) on organ. The result is an even more flavorful gumbo that spices up the homegrown roots of the Crescent City with the savory sounds of ...

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John Ellis & Double-Wide: Puppet Mischief

by Chris May
February 22, 2010

Brooklyn-based saxophonist John Ellis is a player who, whenever he puts his horn in his mouth, makes it seem like retro-modern is the only show in town. His style is part classic soul and funk, part modern jam band groove and part freewheeling improvisation. He has a particular affinity with New Orleans roots music and also references non-American folk and popular styles. He has a hipster sense of humor and an itch to experiment. It's a spellbinding combination and is ...

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Leonardo E. M. Cioglia: Contos

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 10, 2009

Con i musicisti che il contrabbassista brasiliano Leonardo Cioglia ha scelto per questo progetto è possibile fare di tutto. Ci si può lasciare andare ad un tipo di jazz modale in cui si bada per lo più alla velocità esecutiva oppure tirarne fuori le doti musicali, che sicuramente sono presenti con arrangiamenti e composizioni adatte allo scopo. Fortunatamente Cioglia sceglie questa seconda via e così è possibile ascoltare un disco di buon livello, in cui gli assoli misurati, nostante la ...

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John Ellis: Wide Angle

by Jason Crane
June 10, 2008

Saxophonist John Ellis is a hybrid of New Orleans funk, New York modernity, Presbyterian sanctification and good ol' performing skills. He blends all those things together on his new record, Dance Like There's No Tomorrow (Hyena, 2008), which features saxophone, sousaphone, organ and drums. Ellis celebrated the release of his new album with a two-night stand at the Jazz Standard in New York on May 13 and 14, 2008, participating in the following interview on May 14 just ...

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John Ellis and Double-Wide: Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

by Joel Roberts
May 3, 2008

That's the low roar of a sousaphone--courtesy of New Orleans' Matt Perrine--you hear on the opening notes of “All Up in the Aisles," the first tune on Brooklyn-based saxophonist John Ellis' soulful Dance Like There's No Tomorrow. A North Carolina preacher's son who spent his formative musical years in the Crescent City before moving up north, Ellis remains a devotee of the New Orleans sound, although he and his band Double-Wide put a decidedly New York twist on it here. ...

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John Ellis & Double-Wide: Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

by Chris May
March 27, 2008

The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, which laid waste to much of New Orleans in August 2005, has inspired a clutch albums lauding the city and its people, and lambasting the colossal failure of the US government to pick up the pieces. Some of these tributes have been heartfelt; others have appeared opportunistic, going on cynical. Until now, the most eloquent and credible has probably been trumpeter Terence Blanchard's magnificent A Tale Of God's Will (Blue Note, 2007), subtitled “A Requiem ...

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Charlie Hunter Trio: Copperopolis

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 10, 2006

Charlie Hunter's first trio record since 2003's Friends Seen and Unseen balances his talents as a composer (he wrote or co-wrote every track except for the set-ending take of Monk's “Think of One ), as a bandleader, as a band member interplaying with drummer Derrek Phillips and John Ellis (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, Wurlitzer organ and melodica), and as lead guitar hot shot.

Hunter rips the lid off with the first cut, “Cueball Bobbin', which crackles with the ...