Tears Of Joy / Connection

I have been a big fan of Don Ellis' Big Bands since first hearing one of his earliest LPs "Shock Treatment". I will never forget the impact the first track had upon me - "A New Kind of Country"- it simply pins you to the wall. And so it continued throughout that particular Disc. This one, "Tears of Joy", has much the same impact with incredibly vibrant, lively ensembles and wild and joyous soloing. It is remarkable how Don Ellis put together these band units, with incredibly gifted young musicians who very few people (outside of their immediate family circles!!) had heard of before - a true testament to Don's powers of selection and a tribute to his vision and taste. Ellis never hogs the limelight and allows full scope to his young charges to unleash their musical talents upon the listener. This album certainly measures up to his other ones - "Shock Treatment" and "Electtric Bath" - and is heartely to be recommended.

Great Album remastered for CD. One of my all time favourite charts features on this “Strawberry Soup”

At a time when many jazz artists tried - with varied success - to meld jazz and rock, Don Ellis's approach was unique, and far more successful than most. This 1971 performance is my favorite Ellis recording. It stretches the concept of big band, and is actually a jazz orchestra since it includes extra brass, auxiliary percussion, multiple woodwind doubles in the sax section, and a string section. Ellis wrote eight of the 11 tunes, showcasing both his writing talent and the band's ability to render the very challenging arrangements in unconventional meters, what we used to call "time charts." The band doesn't have a tight, disciplined ensemble sound akin to Stan Kenton or Count Basie, but it doesn't matter for this exuberant, innovative performance. The album evokes plenty of emotion: slow and heart-wrenching ("Quiet Longing" and "Loss"), a touch of humor ("Tears of Joy" and "Blues in Elf"), joy-riding with an ensemble unlike any other ("5/4 Getaway," "Bulgarian Bulge," "How's This For Openers?" "Samba Bajada," and the fabulous "Strawberry Soup"). The only track that didn't make it to my iPod is "Euphoric Acid," which is an unremarkable jazz-rock chart (compared to the rest of the album) that takes some detours that I believe detract from the tune. Others may find it more appealing than I do. The two-CD set includes about an hour and a quarter of music. The insert preserves the original album's front and back cover art, as well as the centerfold art and liner notes, although reading the text requires serious magnification. This album is a treasure, the likes of which may never be heard again. "Time charts" have largely fallen out of fashion, and are hard to play well; nobody today seems inclined to front a band of this size and instrumentation; and sadly, Don Ellis died of a heart attack in 1978 at the age of 44, depriving us of his creative spirit. Grab this now, while it's still available.

Nun, was soll man da bewerten ? Don Ellis ist, obwohl schon in jungen Jahren gestorben, seit über 30 Jahren mit seiner "Big-Band" einer meiner Lieblingsmusiker. Man mag die Musik oder nicht ! Die Musik auf dieser CD ist Power-Jazz-Rock in dynamischster Form mit aussergewöhnlich musikalisch starken Musikern.

Très contente d'avoir acheté ce produit. Merci

I loved Don Ellis' music, his performances, his energy level. I had the pleasure (at the time, I wouldn't have said pleasure, I'd have said terror or torture) of playing some of his arrangements in a big band of music school teenagers, as part of a master class and workshop he did with us. We did some of the crazed time signature pieces, which were some of the best training in feeling instead of reading music I'd ever had. We did a couple pieces that are on this CD, including Bulgarian Bulge, since several of us also played Eastern European folk music. We were driven through them, encouraged, and afterwards we described the experience as "survived." I also saw Don Ellis play with his big bands more than 10 times over a few years, in every kind of venue you can imagine, from high school auditoriums to big city music palaces. This album brings back the feel and sound of playing this music. It's "middle of the band" sound. I don't know whether it's a re-issue, re-mix, or what, but on my current sound system, it felt immersive and balanced to how it would sound in the middle of the middle or back row of a similar big band. A lot of big band mixes sound like the band is in front of you, on a smallish stage. This sounds big, broad, and engaging like being in the middle of the music. Maybe it's just me hearing the mix from my own experience inside big bands for years, or maybe it's how it sounds through my DAC after ripping the CD to my server... but this is a tremendously engaging sound on the CD. The band's giggles, laughter, gasps, are all there, behind the big sound of the music, and that's true to what it was like seeing and hearing Don Ellis' bands. This is tough, tough music to play, but thick and rich both rhythmically and tonally, and on this mix it all comes through, thick, rich, and you can hear the band just like you would if you were there watching them sweat. I think I have everything ever released on vinyl by Don Ellis, but played the albums to death. Just went looking for CDs on a whim, and found a bunch, including this one. It seems a bit more engaging and forward than the vinyl, but that might just be how much better our home sound systems are these days. If you only know Don Ellis from the French Connection, this and Soaring may be the most accessible things for you to buy. If you're a jazz musician, this, plus Shock Treatment, Electric Bath, and frankly any of the live performances, will inspire you. Reminded me how much too soon we lost Don Ellis, and how unique his vision and sound were. Nothing else out there today maps to this, other than some of Trombone Shorty's music... he has the same hellacious energy and passion and lack of concern for genres that Don Ellis had.

five stars for the music, but one for the liner notes ! Unless there is another edition, I have a unreadable copy of the original LP liner notes. This masterpiece deserves a better treatment !