DON ELLIS
Genres: Progressive Big Band, Post Bop, Jazz Related Soundtracks, Exotica, Soul Jazz • United States

Don Ellis played trumpet in big bands and orchestras before leading his own bands and recording his own compositions. He experimented with odd time signatures and unusual instrumentations, and his Eastern-influenced jazz gained popularity during the psychedelic 1960s. Ellis also invented a four-valve trumpet and developed a slide/valve trombone called a "superbone." Ellis won a Grammy for his soundtrack to The French Connection. Biography Overview  Donald Johnson Ellis 1934-1978, the Man... his Times and most importantly his Music is explored in the Feature Length Documentary Film, ELECTRIC HEART -don ellis. (status: Post Production) The Story of the one of the most innovative Composer, Arranger, Writer and Musicians' of all time, Ellis was the first to create a fusion between Jazz-Rock & Classical music. Pultizer winning Composer Gunther Schuller appears explaining Ellis as the advent of his own coined phrase "The Third Stream". Ellis took the genre to greater heights and read more...