Don Ellis: How Time Passes/New Ideas/Jazz Jamboree 1962 auf 2 CDs

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Despite wide experience with several name bands, Los Angeles-born Don Ellis (1934-1978) was almost unknown before he joined George Russell’s highly experimental sextet early in 1961, and it was his achievements as a composer and trumpeter that saw his emergence as a leading jazz »new wave« figure.

In this he found a kindred spirit in fellow avant gardist, pianist Jaki Byard, whom he met in Maynard Ferguson's 1959 band, and who was part of two stimulating albums Ellis made that broke with traditional jazz practices. The first, the marvelous, controversial How Time Passes, was marked by provocative writing and improvising as Ellis used strong group discipline and the 12-tone row in the search for new expressive areas in jazz. The second, New Ideas (1961), was an exhilarating and compelling embrace of an even wider range of moods notable for the freshness, ingenuity and striking originality of its conception.

Both albums employed only original Ellis compositions (with one by Byard). In contrast, the remaining performances feature Ellis mostly on standards. Recorded live at the fifth International Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw in 1962, all but two were released as part of Jazz Jamboree 1962.