Don Ellis

Donald Johnson "Don" Ellis (* 25. July 1934 in Los Angeles , † 17th December 1978 in North Hollywood ) was an American jazz - trumpet player , drummer , composer and bandleader , who primarily for his work with complex rhythms and Time signatures became famous. His bands were known for being able to make even complex meters swing. He dealt early with aspects of new music in the context of jazz, experimented with a variety of electronic instruments and effects devices and integrated Indian, Eastern European and Arabic elements into his compositions. At the same time, he also tried out new line-ups: at times he employed three bassists and four percussionists in his big band . He also invented a trumpet with four valves to play quarter tones .

Ellis was well received by an audience that reached far beyond the jazz scene, as the recordings from the Fillmore West show with their enthusiastic audience reactions. He played on numerous albums by other musicians (mainly between 1959 and 1968), including Charles Mingus , Karin Krog , Maynard Ferguson , George Russell , Leonard Bernstein and Frank Zappa .

origin

Ellis' father was a Methodist priest and his mother a church organist. He attended West High School in Minneapolis . A visit to a big band concert by Tommy Dorsey was primarily responsible for his interest in jazz . Other early inspirations came from Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie . He decided to study composition at Boston University and graduated in 1956.

Musical career

1956–1962: The early years

His first engagement as a musician got Ellis in the Glenn Miller Band directed by Ray McKinley . There he played until he was accepted into the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra and Soldiers' Show Company in September 1956 , with which he was sent to Frankfurt am Main , Germany . In the Army band, Ellis met the pianist Cedar Walton and the saxophonists Eddie Harris and Don Menza . It was here that Ellis had his first opportunities to write for a big band .

Two years later he left the Army band and moved to Greenwich Village , New York City . Here he found jobs in dance bands and toured briefly with band leader Charlie Barnet , but where he did not hold a position worth mentioning. He got his first major engagement in the spring of 1959, for nine months, in the Maynard Ferguson Band.

Shortly thereafter, Ellis came into contact with the avant-garde jazz scene in New York City. He appeared on albums by Charles Mingus , Eric Dolphy and George Russell , whose sextet, later septet, he was a member for two years.

Between 1960 and 1962 he led several sessions with small groups under his own name. There were Jaki Byard , Paul Bley , Gary Peacock , Ron Carter , Charlie Persip and Steve Swallow , among others . These albums are remarkable for Ellis' exploration of tempo, form and tonality as well as for the excellent musicality. During this time his first publications were made. How Time Passes (1960), on which he experimented with twelve-tone rows, Out of Nowhere , New Ideas and, as the last album of this period, Essence , which was recorded in mid-July 1962. Subsequently, Ellis did not release records in America for several years but was far from inactive.

1962–1964: Europe and America

In October 1962 Ellis traveled to Poland to perform at the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw . Ellis documented his experience in an article entitled Warsaw Diary , which was published in Down Beat Magazine in the January 3, 1963 issue. In December Ellis took part in an NDR jazz workshop in Hamburg and in early 1963 he traveled to Stockholm , Sweden , where he received some attention for his experiments with happenings similar to those of the Fluxus movement.

Back in New York, he founded the Improvisational Workshop Orchestra , which made its first appearance on February 10, 1963 on Five Spot . The performance was roughly the same as the performance he had developed in Sweden: performers used maps to determine the sequence of events, and musicians used their instruments to interpret the work of painters. In addition, some unusual musical elements were used, such as B. Arabic rhythms and scales or tapping with your feet on the floor ( foot shuffling ).

1964–1967: New Rhythms & Third Stream

In 1964 Ellis began studying ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he met the Indian musician Harihar Rao. Heavily inspired by Rao, Ellis experimented with odd meters in the context of western improvised music. Together with Rao, he wrote the article An Introduction to Indian Music for the Jazz Musician for Jazz Magazine in 1965 . At that time, he briefly formed the first version of his big band, which was disbanded when Ellis received a Rockefeller scholarship to study with Lukas Foss at the University at Buffalo for a year .

During his time in New York, Ellis was involved in several Third Stream projects. A live performance on February 8, 1964 at Lincoln Center was filmed for Leonard Bernstein ’s TV series Young People's Concerts . He also played with other jazz musicians from the New York Philharmonic on Larry Austin 's Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists (1961) and Gunther Schuller 's Journey Into Jazz (1962). A later recording of Austin's piece, with Don Ellis, bassist Barre Phillips , drummer Joe Cocuzzo and the New York Philharmonic (conducted by Bernstein), was released on the 1965 album Leonard Bernstein Conducts Music of Our Time .

In November 1967, Ellis' first symphony, Contrasts for Two Orchestras and Trumpet, was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta .

1965/1966: The Hindustani Jazz Sextet

Back on the west coast , Ellis formed the Hindustani Jazz Sextet , which he used to test in practice some of the concepts he had learned during his studies. The sextet around Ellis and his mentor Harihar Rao ( sitar and tabla ) also consisted of: vibraphonist Emil Richards , drummer Steve Bohannon, bassists Chuck Domanico and Ray Neapolitan, pianist Dave MacKay and, for at least one performance, saxophonist Gabe Baltazar . The band mainly played their own compositions with names like Sweet Nineteen , Turks Works and Bombay Bossa Nova .

The sextet became quite popular in Los Angeles, although there were no commercially available recordings. The Ellis composition "Synthesis" deserves special mention, which the sextet played together with Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra at a concert in February 1966 at the "Los Angeles Music Center".

On July 14, 1966, the sextet played in Bill Graham's Fillmore West Auditorium, opening up for Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company . This was the last known activity of the sextet until 1971 (with Milcho Leviev on piano; Ralph Humphrey and Dennis Parker formed the rhythm section) again in Hollywood. But Ellis's second project, the Workshop Orchestra, had concocted something else over the past few years.

1966: Live at Monterey!

In addition to working with the Hindustani Jazz Sextet, Ellis continued to write arrangements for - and rehearse - the formation that became the Don Ellis Orchestra in the years that followed. These rehearsals took place every Monday evening for almost a year; first at a place called “Club Havana” and later at “Bonesville” in Hollywood, where they began to grow into a significant follow-up project. The group made some money by allowing spectators to rehearse for a small entry fee. During this time the band initiated a letter campaign from fans to the organizer of the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 with the aim of getting a performance there. Indeed, the campaign succeeded and the band was booked in September.

The "Don Ellis Orchestra" differed from most other large bands in several ways, most obviously in its instrumentation (see below), but also in the way it incorporated Indian elements into modern big band compositions. Drawing on his experiences in composing, arranging, and studying Indian music, Ellis began to write jazz-based music with meters that he had studied with Rao. This included not only 4/5, 7/8 and 9/4, but even more complex rhythmic cycles such as 19/4 or 27/16. In the following years Ellis used even more complex rhythmic cycles, inspired by his later interest in Eastern European folk music, such as that of Greece and Bulgaria .

All these unusual elements merged into a musical experience that was different from everything that the audience of the Monterey Festival had heard to date. The orchestra received thunderous applause and standing ovations - already after the end of the first song with the title 33 222 1 222 , according to the rhythmic signature of the composition. The band continued to play: pieces in 7, 9, and 27, and some in standard meters. Parts of the concert were released as LP the following year by Pacific Jazz Records ( Live at Monterey ). The 1988 CD re-release contains additional previously unreleased material from the concert.

Following this breakthrough, the band played at the Pacific Jazz Festival in 1966, and in Shelly Mann's nightclub Shelly's Manne-Hole in March 1967, parts of which were on the 1967 LP Live in 3 2/3 / 4 Time (Live im Dreizweidrittel / Viertel -Takt) (Pacific Jazz).

1967-1972: Columbia Records

Around this time, music producer and A&R John Hammond brought the band to Columbia Records . In 1967 the recordings for one of the most important albums in Ellis' career Electric Bath began , which was released in the following year with great media attention. (See main article: Electric Bath .)

In February 1968, the orchestra went back to the studio to record the next album, Shock Treatment , which caused unusual problems upon release. Don Ellis in an interview with Down Beat Magazine:

“After the album was finished, I mixed and edited it here in California and then sent the finished product to New York. It was not yet ready for the album to be released when I heard a press release. To my horror, I found that, without asking myself, the whole album had been turned inside out - previously rejected master recordings and unapproved takes were used (not the ones I had selected and edited), wrong songs were on the album, unauthorized Cuts were made that destroyed the musical flow of some compositions (there were even missing beats from the bars), whole parts, some of which were the highlights of the album, were cut out. Therefore, the liner notes that were originally included with the album no longer matched what was actually on the album, as they drew attention to solos and highlights that now no longer existed. […] Even the line-up was incorrectly listed on the cover. When I found out what had happened, I was of course concerned and asked Columbia if I could do the album again. They kindly agreed, and I was able to bring the album back to its original form, except I omitted [the title] Zim , which I hope will appear on a future album, in favor of Mercy Maybe Mercy , which my producer particularly liked. "

At the end of 1968, recordings began for the next album Autumn , which contains the 20-minute opus Variations for Trumpet , which shows Ellis' virtuoso trumpet playing. It also features Pussy Wiggle Stomp , the song that Indian Lady replaced as the signature melody for the orchestra. The B-side contains two long recordings from a concert at Palo Altos Stanford University in August 1968. The titles reveal the remarkable live sound of the band at the time, which was far rougher than on their previous live recordings.

In the spring of 1969 the orchestra went back to Columbia Studios to record the LP The Don Ellis Band Goes Underground . It includes interpretations of some pop songs (arranged by Ellis) and some original compositions. In addition to songs by Laura Nyro , The Isley Brothers and Sly Stone , it also contains Bulgarian Bulge , a composition based on a Bulgarian folk song in 33/16 time.

In June 1970 the orchestra played for three nights at the Fillmore West Auditorium, as the opening act for Quicksilver Messenger Service and Leon Russell . The concert was recorded and released as a double album Don Ellis at Fillmore by Columbia in late 1970. In addition to a lot of its own material, the album contains an experimental version of Hey Jude of the Beatles , as well as a new version of Pussy Wiggle Stomp .

The band's energetic live performances, for example at Stanford University, also increased its popularity in university circles. Copies of his band's music have been released and played by many high school and college big bands. During this time, Ellis taught many study groups and played with their bands.

In May 1971 Ellis brought a string quartet to the orchestra and hired the Bulgarian piano virtuoso Milcho Leviev , who was able to improvise fluently in time signatures that would have been intimidating to most American improvisation artists. He was an important addition to Ellis' band and stayed for five years. The orchestra was recorded at Basin Street West , San Francisco, in late May . The resulting double LP, Tears of Joy , was released in late 1971. The included title Strawberry Soup has been the subject of several scientific investigations because of its metrical complexity, the spectrum of timbres and the complex variations of a simple basic theme.

1972: The French Connection

Around this time, Ellis was asked by director William Friedkin to write the music for his film The French Connection . He accepted the project and wrote the music for an implementation with his own orchestra. The soundtrack later earned him a Grammy ("Best Instrumental Arrangement"). He was asked to also write the music for the sequel to French Connection II in 1975.

Ellis's last album for Columbia, Connection , was recorded in August 1972. It features The Theme from “The French Connection” , a shortened version of the soundtrack, and Chain Reaction , a masterpiece by long-time orchestra member Hank Levy . In addition to these highlights, rearranged interpretations of several pop songs by artists such as Carole King , Yes , Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Carpenters can be heard.

1973-1974: MPS

In 1973 the orchestra recorded the album Soaring , a collection of their own compositions. Milcho Leviev contributed Sladka Pitka , which is based on a Bulgarian folk song. The record was released by MPS , as was the subsequent album Haiku with pianist Milcho Leviev, bassist Ray Brown , drummer John Guerin , and a large string orchestra. It contains ten songs, each composed on the basis of a Japanese haiku poem. The album is very relaxed and withdrawn. Haiku was probably recorded in late 1973 and released in 1974.

1974: The Organic Band and Heart Problems

In 1974 Ellis took an interest in Brazilian music and learned Portuguese to better communicate with the local musicians. During this time he led a live band called "Organic Band", which was essentially a stripped-down version of the orchestra and no longer used electronic instruments or effects, but a vocal quartet. Ellis toured with the "Organic Band" in spring and summer 1974. Unfortunately, there are no recordings from this period.

Ellis had to postpone further efforts with the Organic Band due to health problems. After suffering from breathlessness, he went to a New York hospital where he was diagnosed with a valve defect that would cause abnormal heart rhythms. He got medication and went back to Los Angeles. Shortly afterwards, he started having breathing problems again and went to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a hole in the septum of the heart and, after further examinations, finally diagnosed with heart disease. He was prescribed other drugs, but his condition worsened. He suffered ventricular fibrillation one early morning in May 1975 . Ellis later described how he found himself on the verge of death as the doctors fought for his life: "It sounds strange, I know, but it was a remarkably beautiful experience, perhaps the ultimate high."

Late works

On December 3, 1976, the Don Ellis Orchestra made a television appearance on a Shirley MacLaine program called Where Do We Go From Here? . They played an Ellis arrangement by Sweet Georgia Brown that they renamed "Sweet Shirley MacLaine". The arrangement included a solo by Art Pepper , a passage for tap dancers and again the electronic trumpet.

In 1977 Ellis signed a contract with Atlantic Records . The contract guaranteed the band to finance their trip to the upcoming Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux ( Switzerland ). In return, Atlantic expected the transfer of the live recordings of his appearance there. However, the record company asked him to record two songs from Star Wars beforehand . The titles Star Wars (Main Title Theme) and Princess Leia's Theme should be released as a single. In June the record company checked again. They now hired Ellis to record a full album of Starwars material so that if the single were to become a hit, they would have an album ready for release. Ellis only had a week left for the requested recordings before he had to leave for Montreux. In addition, he was required not to use any pieces that he would record for the live album.

Ellis got help from his colleagues, composers / arrangers Tommy Vig and Curt Berg, but wrote mostly everything himself. The album was put together as Music from Other Galaxies and Planets . All pieces were given science fiction- related names, such as Orion's Sword and Crypton .

The album Live at Montreux reached number 48 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. It was Ellis's last album under his own name. He later appeared as a musician on albums by Nick Gilder ( You Know Who You Are ) and Tommy Vig ( 1978 ).

Ellis's last known public performance was on April 21, 1978, in the Westside Room in Century City . After that, his doctor forbade him to play the trumpet because it would strain his heart too much. On December 17, 1978, after attending a Jon Hendricks concert, Ellis suffered a fatal heart attack in his parents' apartment. He was only 44 years old. Ellis was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) .

Reception of the life's work

Although Ellis' experiments with the form and content of jazz were undeniably innovative, his innovations often met with incomprehension during his lifetime, or were received as pretentious or too humorous. So he used to explain to his audience how certain time signatures were divided. To this end, he came up with humorous bonmots, such as that 33 222 1 222 is just the zip code of Monterey. His sense of humor often caused critics to misinterpret that he didn't take his own music seriously. Appropriate appreciation of his life's work only took place posthumously.

Not only his outstanding achievements as an instrumentalist and composer showed that he was a serious and committed musician. He also took great care to teach. So he founded a youth band in Los Angeles, which was directed by Glenn Ferris . Sidemen like Stu Blumberg paid tribute to Ellis for bringing them the idiosyncrasies of unconventional music in film soundtracks. Commented tenor saxophonist Jim Snodgrass , “I think Don was a teacher in many ways. One thing his music taught me was that I could play whatever I absolutely had to play ”.

Even so, the popularity of Ellis Musik waned after his death. Aside from Tom Scott , John Klemmer , Glenn Ferris , Milcho Leviev, and Ann Patterson , few of his former fellow musicians have achieved any notable fame; and Elli's compositions were rarely played.

Columbia Records , originally responsible for the release of seven Ellis albums, only re-released Electric Bath , Ellis's greatest commercial success, on CD in 1997 and stubbornly refused to reissue the other albums. The majority of his recordings did not appear until 2000, when labels such as Koch Jazz , Wounded Bird and Mighty Quinn Productions had tried to re-releases. In 2008 his record "Soaring" (1973) was re-released by the renowned label Verve Records in the series 'Jazz Club'.

Ellis wrote numerous articles and several books. Many of the lyrics were printed in magazines such as Jazz and Down Beat . Two of his books have been published. The new rhythm book (1972) deals with the practice and performance of unusual meters. It includes an accompanying soundtrack entitled New Rhythms . The second book, Quarter Tones (1975), is a theoretical guide to using quarter tones . Both books are very detailed and offer a great deal of historical and cultural background to their subjects. Both books are very difficult to find as they were probably not reprinted after their first edition.

The "Don Ellis Library and Collection" is located in the ethnomusicological archive at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This collection includes writings, instruments, and other items, as well as his Grammy for the 1971 soundtrack to The French Connection .

Don Ellis Tribute Orchestra

On the 30th anniversary of Don Ellis' death on December 17, 2008, Thomas Gansch and Markus Geiselhart founded the Don Ellis Tribute Orchestra (DETO), an 18-member big band with mostly Austrian musicians.

At first only one concert was planned, but there were further performances in October 2010, in 2012 it was decided to play concerts and tours regularly. In April 2013 the first tour through Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Germany took place.

DETO plays legendary Don Ellis titles such as Indian Lady, Turkish Bath, Great Divide or Pussy Wiggle Stomp, but also the theme music composed by Don Ellis for the film “French Connection”.

Quarter-tone trumpet and orchestral instrumentation

The inspiration for developing the quarter-tone trumpet came on the one hand from Ellis' study of Indian music, the frequency intervals of which are called microtones by ethnomusicologists . For the most part, however, it resulted from his interest in the field of new music , in which various composers experimented with tonalities and intervals outside the western functional harmony, especially Harry Partch , who is known to have met Ellis and discussed ideas with him. While studying the twelve-tone compositions for orchestra by the Czech composer Pavel Blatný , Ellis finally discovered that he had written an etude for a quarter-tone trumpet.

He spoke to Larry Ramirez, the developer for brass instruments at the instrument maker LeBanc-Holton, about the construction of a trumpet with a fourth valve that opens an additional, short ring module, whereby a quarter-tone shift could be achieved and gave the construction of a one-off production in order. He received the instrument in September 1965.

The quarter-tone trumpet, expanded to include an electric mouthpiece, became the unmistakable trademark for Don Ellis' trumpet playing.

Ellis' interest in expanding big band instrumentation becomes clear on Live at Monterey (1966), his first orchestral release. Inspired by his experiences with Latin bands, he expanded his rhythm section to two drums and three double basses, at least two additional percussionists, piano and organ. On the song Turkish Bath (on Electric Bath , 1967), bassist Ray Neapolitan can also be heard on the sitar. His wind sections were mostly typical, although he later expanded them to include tuba and french horn . Sometimes the saxophonist played instruments such as flute , oboe , clarinet and saxello .

In 1967 Ellis began experimenting with electronic instruments. His pianist began to play Fender-Rhodes ( electric piano ), clavinet and electric harpsichord . Ellis himself played the self-developed, electric trumpet, heard for the first time on Open Beauty , also on Electric Bath .

In 1968 Ellis replaced the double basses with a single electric bass, played by Joe Julian, then Dennis Parker and finally Dave McDaniels. He also hired guitarist Jay Graydon , who stayed with the band for several years.

For the 1971 Tears of Joy tour, Ellis integrated a string quartet into the band. The instruments were amplified with newly developed pick-ups from Barcus-Berry so that they could be heard over the brass and saxophones. These new timbres opened up a source of creative opportunity for Ellis. He explained, "People spend entire evenings listening to a brass quintet, woodwind or string quartet, and so I deduced that with ALL of these, in a big band, we would have a fantastic variety of colors."

In 1973 (possibly 1974) Haiku was published. The album was recorded with a jazz quartet supported by a full string orchestra. Due to the size of the group, it was probably never considered to play live with this line-up.

Because of his heart problems, Ellis switched to synthesizers and keyboards and rarely played the trumpet, although he had learned two new instruments: the superbone , a valve trombone and the Firebird , a slide trumpet . Both were also played by Maynard Ferguson .

Discography

1960 How Time Passes (Candid) with Jaki Byard , Ron Carter , Charlie Persip 1961 Out of Nowhere (Candid) with Paul Bley , Steve Swallow 1961 New Ideas (Prestige, CD: OJC) with Al Francis (vib), Byard, Carter, Persip 1962 Essence (CD: Mighty Quinn) with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock 1962 Jazz Jamboree (10 ") (Muza) 1966 Don Ellis Orchestra Live at Monterey (Pacific Jazz) 1966 Live In 3 2/3 / 4 Time (Pacific Jazz) 1967 Electric Bath (Columbia) 1968 Shock Treatment (Columbia, CD: Koch) 1968 Autumn (Columbia) 1969 The New Don Ellis Band Goes Underground (Columbia)

1970 Don Ellis at Fillmore (Columbia) 1971 Tears of Joy (Columbia, CD: Wounded Bird) with Milcho Leviev 1972 Connection (Columbia, CD: Wounded Bird) 1973 Soaring (MPS) 1973 Haiku (MPS) 1977 Music From Other Galaxies and Planets (Atlantic) 1977 Live at Montreux (Atlantic, CD: Koch) 2001 French Connection / French Connection II (CD only) (Film Score Monthly) 2002 A Simplex One (CD re-release of How Time Passes ) 2006 Pieces of Eight - Live at UCLA (Double CD only) (Wounded Bird) 2010 Live in India (Sleepy Night Records SNR003CD)

Sources / literature

• Sean Fenlon: The Exotic Rhythms of Don Ellis . Dissertation, The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University , 2002.
• Leonard Feather: From Satchmo to Miles . Stein and Day, New York 1972
• Reclams Jazz Lexicon . 2nd edition, 2009
• Ken Orton: In Search of Don Ellis, Forgotten Genius, Volume 1-3 . England 2010 (UniBook / Ken Orton). ISBN 978-1-935038-96-2 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-1-935038-97-9 (Vol. 2), ISBN 978-1-935038-98-6 (Vol. 3)

Web links

• Detailed Don Ellis website, including a downloadable dissertation (PDF)
• Material collection: discography, filmography, writings and numerous links
• Detailed article at jazz.com (Engl.) ( Memento of 4 March 2016 Internet Archive )
• Don Ellis Tribute Orchestra
• Ö1: On Stage: Don Ellis Tribute Orchestra feat. Thomas Gansch live at Konzerthaus Wien

Individual evidence

1. ^ Leonard Feather: From Satchmo to Miles . Stein and Day, New York 1972, p. 214
2. ^ Feather, p. 215
3. ^ Don Ellis: Warsaw Diary , Down Beat Magazin, January 3, 1963
4. ^ Michael Frohne: Workshops, workshop TV and radio concerts ( Memento from March 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) of the NDR in the Internet Archive
5. ^ Feather, 218
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Anthony Agostinelli: Don Ellis: A Man For Our Time . In: Jazz Research Papers: 1984 , NAJE Publications, Manhattan, KS, 1984.
7. ^ Don Ellis, Harihar Rao: An Introduction to Indian Music for the Jazz Musician . Jazz Magazine, April 1965
8. ^ ^{A b c} Sean Fenlon: The Exotic Rhythms of Don Ellis . Diss. The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University , 2002.
9. ^ Don Ellis: The New Rhythm Book . Ellis Music Enterprises, Hollywood 1972, p. 6
10. ↑ Archived version of the previous page about Don Ellis Sessions (accessed July 19, 2010) ( January 10, 2008 memento in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved April 28, 2013
11. ^ ^{A b} Don Ellis: the new rhythm book , p. 7
12. ^ Feather, p. 219
13. ^ Feather, p. 220
14. ↑ ^{a b c} reclams Jazz Lexikon, 2nd ed., 2009, pp. 162, 163
15. ↑ During this time, audio recordings were mastered on ¼ or ½ inch tapes, which were cut for vinyl editing, analogous to film strips. (Editor's note)
16. ^ Don Ellis: Chords and Discords . Down Beat , October 31, 1968.
17. ^ Wayne L. Perkins: Don Ellis' Use of 'New Rhythms' in His Compositions: The Great Divide (1969), Final Analysis (1969) and Strawberry Soup (1971) Dissertation (UCLA) 2000; Sean P. Fenlon The Exotic Rhythms of Don Ellis Dissertation (Johns Hopkins University) 2002, pp. 117ff .; Godfried Toussaint The Euclidean Algorithm Generates Traditional Musical Rhythms In: In Proceedings of BRIDGES: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music and Science, pp. 47–56, Banff, Canada, July – August 2005.
18. ↑ Patricia Willard: This is the Don Ellis Interview . Down Beat, January 31, 1974.
19. ^ "It sounds weird, I know, but it was a remarkably beautiful experience, maybe the ultimate high" (Don Heckman: Don Ellis: "Most Alive and Well" . Down Beat, January 27, 1977)
20. ↑ Don Ellis in conversation with Ron Simmonds in Berlin
21. ↑ Don Ellis: Quarter Tones: a text with musical examples, exercises and etudes . Harold Branch Publishing, Plainview, Long Island, New York, 1975, p. 17
22. ↑ jazz.com ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
23. ↑ Don Ellis: Tears of Joy Liner Notes , Columbia CG 30927, 1971. “People spend whole evenings listening to a brass quintet, a woodwind or string quartet, so I reasoned that having ALL of these in the context of a big band should give us a fantastic variety of colors from which to draw ".
24. ↑ Contains recordings dated April 8, 1967 from the University of California, Los Angeles, which were only available on cassette tape through Ellis' self-distribution in the early 1970s.
25. ↑ Recorded during Jazz Yatra 78, Festival of Indo-Afro-American Music from December 12th to 18th. February 1978 at RANG BHAVAN Arena, Bombay, India; in his quintet: Don Ellis (tp), Emilie Diehl (voice), Randy Kerber (p), Leon Gaer (b), Dave Crigger (dr)