Don Ellis

[Kevin MacDonnell]

I have got a project for Steve and Kevin(like they need to hear one more suggestion about what to remaster). The Don Ellis catalog is a wonderful catalog to keep alive, especially Don Ellis at Fillmore; hint, hint. I know that you guys have to look at saleability, and all the other issues that go into licensing, marketing et.al.. For me, Don Ellis at Fillmore is one of the most exciting musical excursions to come out of the seventies. And these guys had fun to boot. Just something for you to mull over if you ever get to that point where you're asking each other, "Well, Steve, what do you want do?" "I don't know Kev. What do you want to do?"

[BFrank]

I'll second THAT one!

Let's get this thing on CD.

[clogs]

I had to convert my original album to CD just to be able to play it in the car or at work. I'd also like to see it done correctly on vinyl. The original is not too bad. I know it can be better.

[ChrisM]

Originally Posted by clogs

I had to convert my original album to CD just to be able to play it in the car or at work. I'd also like to see it done correctly on vinyl. The original is not too bad. I know it can be better.

A vinyl issue of this would be nice. There is another Don Ellis album currently available on vinyl ("Electric Bath" by the Don Ellis Orchestra) here: http://www.vinyl.com/product_id/LPCOLU9585

I'm not familar with this one. Any feedback? If this is available, I wonder if the live album might also appear some day. Sony does seem to do a lot of old Columbia titles on vinyl these days.

Cheers,
Chris

[ChrisM]

I just visited cduniverse.com and found that "Live at the Fillmore" is slated for release on the Wounded Bird label on July 12th. Woo hoo! It's spread over 2 CDs, as well. I'm not sure if the original LP runs longer than 80 minutes but, at least we're assured that nothing will be chopped off in order to make it fit onto a single disc.

Cheers,
Chris

[clogs]

Oh, very cool! Now I have something to live for.

[Hoops]

I strongly recommend Electric Bath. Great tunes, great arranging, and Ellis makes astounding use of his four-valve microtonal trumpet. (There's one tune, I think it's Turkish Bath, in which he plays the head a quarter step away from everyone else! You'd think that would be an awful din but he does it so consistently that it works.)

The CD could use a remaster--I'm pretty that in the middle of the first track, Indian Lady, there is a quick but noticeable wow, as if the master tape were suddenly slowed down.

[Ronflugelguy]

One of the most exciting live albums ever!!!!!period!!!!!!

[clogs]

That's one of three of my all time fav's. The other two being Allman Brothers at the Feelmore and Little Foots Live. At least, I think those are. I reserve the right to change my mind.

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

I just visited cduniverse.com and found that "Live at the Fillmore" is slated for release on the Wounded Bird label on July 12th.
Cheers,
Chris

So........what's the "Wounded Bird" label? Not being a Sony release, I wonder where the masters came from and if this is even a legitimate release.

[mrmaloof]

Wounded Bird is a reissue label that licenses from the majors, just like Audio Fidelity and others do. But Wounded Bird is bare-bones reissues. Sound quality seems to depend on what the majors send them. On the previous Don Ellis releases it sounded like a good flat transfer, so I have high hopes for these and the new Maynard Ferguson issues.

There's never been more top-notch Don Ellis on CD! Live at Fillmore is indeed one of the greatest. It runs just a little too long to fit on one CD as I can testify from my needle-drop. So does Tears of Joy, the gem of the previous Wounded Bird releases.

Those are my two favorites. Next up is Don's last album, Live at Montreux, available on Koch; then Electric Bath, mentioned several times here for good reason. You might want to go with the older GNP over the Sony on this one. The Sony issue was remixed, and I think the problem that Hoops noticed is not on the GNP.

Nearly all of these are limited-time licenses from the majors, so don't delay! Buy some for your friends and maybe we'll see Soaring and Autumn come out next!

- Joe

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by mrmaloof

On the previous Don Ellis releases it sounded like a good flat transfer, so I have high hopes for these and the new Maynard Ferguson issues.

- Joe

Well, that sounds good. As for Maynard, I wonder if they are going to do "Live at Jimmy's - MF Horn 4 & 5"?

[-=Rudy=-]

Originally Posted by BFrank

Well, that sounds good. As for Maynard, I wonder if they are going to do "Live at Jimmy's - MF Horn 4 & 5"?

The whole MF Horn series should be on CD...Wounded Bird has the first MF Horn out there already, so that's a good sign.

I still haven't gotten the Don Ellis Tears Of Joy yet either. I do like the Live at Monterey CD, which has bonus tracks. "3 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 2...and that's just the area code!"

[ChrisM]

Just a reminder that the Fillmore set is released this coming Tuesday (July 12th). I just pre-ordered mine from deepdiscountcd.com.

BTW - I just returned from England a couple days back where I picked up a copy of the remastered "Electric Bath" CD. Sounds pretty nice!

Cheers,
Chris

[clogs]

Excellent! I'm hoping that W.B. Does the whole cat-a-log. Woof. Don Ellis was a complete trip. I wish that I could have seen him in concert.

[jdw]

Originally Posted by -=Rudy=-

The whole MF Horn series should be on CD...Wounded Bird has the first MF Horn out there already, so that's a good sign.

The story I've read was that for the "MF Horn" albums, Sony was planning to do a 2 cd compilation called "The Best Of MF Horn" (or some similar title). The set was supposedly compiled and mastered, and Maynard and other band members from that era contributed to the liner notes. I don't know why it was never released.

Now, three or more years later, Wounded Bird is releasing "MF Horn I". I too hope they are allowed to release the rest of the MF Horn albums, as well as the 1968-69 "Ballad Style Of MF" album which has always been very hard to find on vinyl and never released on CD.
There are portions of MF's '70s discography that haven't aged well (Rocky II Disco, anyone?), but it's terrible that it has taken 20 years into the CD era to get these albums reissued...

I've read there are also several worthwhile unreleased studio tracks from the mid-70s. Maynard and his band were half-way through recording the follow-up to the "Chameleon" album when Columbia shelved the project and had Maynard record 1975's "Primal Scream" instead. That album featured NY Studio players instead of Maynard's band, and apparently MF was never happy about the situation...

There are supposedly other unreleased live recordings in the Columbia vaults as well. I hope that the best of these unreleased studio and live tracks can someday get released by Sony.

[johmbolaya]

The Fillmore album is great, I had found it at a thrift store a year or two ago and played it on my radio show. The version of "Hey Jude" on there is a trip, as well as "Final Analysis" (which perfectly starts the album).

[clogs]

Out of all of his albums, At The Fillmore is my favorite. Why is that you ask? Because it is the most joyous. Those guys had a blast, and it shows. Although, I do hope that wounded bird releases his entire catalog.

[Todd E]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

I just visited cduniverse.com and found that "Live at the Fillmore" is slated for release on the Wounded Bird label on July 12th.

Not at Amoeba on the 19th. (Their selection of Ellis is a bit threadbare).

[clogs]

Neither the Amoeba up here in the City