John Ellis

John Ellis is one of New York’s premiere tenor saxophone voices. With more than 150 album credits as a sideman, John has recorded with a wide variety of artists such as Charlie Hunter, Robert Glasper, Darcy James Argue, Helen Sung, Kendrick Scott Oracle, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Sting. John was the 2nd place winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition in 2002, he was the recipient of three composition grants through The Jazz Gallery for the creation of new work (“Dreamscapes”, “The Ice Siren”, and “MOBRO”) and he was selected as the 2014 Make Jazz Fellow by the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica. John has released thirteen albums as a leader, three of those featuring his New Orleans-centered band Double-Wide, which has toured extensively and was featured on the Main Stage of the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. He co-produced the music for the children’s book series “Baby Loves Jazz” with Aaron Goldberg, and he wrote the theme music for the NPR podcast, “Rough Translation.” “Say It Quiet”, his most recent album, is a collaboration with Glenn Patscha and Adam Levy. It was released on the Sunnyside record label in August of 2021.

Gili Lopes: Algures

Read "Algures" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 13, 2024

Bassist, composer, musical director and producer Gili Lopes is nothing if not an astute judge of talent. After all, for Algures (from an old Portuguese word meaning 'somewhere'), he has recruited a redoubtable case of accompanists, not the least of whom is saxophonist John Ellis, he of fruitful collaborations with Charlie Hunter and Miguel Zenon among others, as well as a string of diverse albums under his own name such as Dance Like There's No Tomorrow (Hyena, 2008) and Puppet ...

Album Review

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension

Read "Dynamic Maximum Tension" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
September 25, 2023

Precursore nel 2009 (con l'innovativo Infernal Machines) del nuovo rinascimento orchestrale nel jazz, Darcy James Argue approda all'etichetta Nonesuch e pubblica il nuovo album in studio: un doppio CD realizzato con i consueti partner della Secret Society più l'aggiunta della cantante Cecile McLorin Salvant e della violinista Sara Caswell. A differenza degli ultimi due dischi, Dynamic Maximum Tension non è un'opera multimediale ma conserva la spinta visionaria animata dalla costante riflessione socio-politica. Spinta che si traduce in ...

Album Review

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension

Read "Dynamic Maximum Tension" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
September 3, 2023

Darcy James Argue's superb double-album Nonesuch debut offers compositions written throughout his career. He turns to twentieth-century thinkers for “ideas that can help us in the present, that we can reexamine and reconfigure for our own purposes." These include futurist designer Buckminster Fuller, cryptanalyst-computer scientist Alan Turing, composer-arranger Bob Brookmeyer, actress-screenwriter Mae West, trumpeter-mentor Laurie Frink, and musician-beyond-category Duke Ellington, among others. Like West, Argue seems to control his own path. He may not yet be the tycoon she was, ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 17, 2023

Eunmi Lee is a quick learner. The South Korean-born pianist, who now makes her home in New York City, did not become acquainted with or interested in jazz until a friend introduced her to the GRP Records catalogue. That was more than a year after she had received a degree in contemporary piano from the Seoul Institute for the Arts, in 2005. Eager to learn more, Lee came to California in 2007 to take part in an open house at ...

Album Review

Manuel Valera Quintet: Vessel

by Chris May
August 7, 2023

Cuban born and raised, pianist and composer Manuel Valera moved to the US in 1994, attending high school in Florida before moving to New York City in 2000 to study at the New School. His classmates included Robert Glasper, Mike Moreno, Michael Rodriguez, Marcus Strickland and E.J. Strickland. Fast company. Valera's career as a leader moved up a notch when his band New Cuban Express received a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Latin Jazz Album for ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 19, 2023

Korean-born, New York-based pianist and composer Eunmi Lee opens her debut record, Introspection with her original composition, “Gimmick." And, if there is a gimmick, it sounds as if it might be her strong compositional voice and her way with an arrangement. The tune features Alan Ferber on trombone, saxophonist John Ellis, a guitar, bass and drums rhythm section, and Lee in the piano chair. In spite of the album's title, this opener is a bright, sassy roller. Maybe the gimmick ...

Album Review

Jeb Patton: Preludes

by Jack Bowers
June 13, 2023

A jazz quintet performing eight classically-inspired Preludes and Duke Ellington's wistful “Prelude to a Kiss"? How could that possibly work? In the capable hands of pianist Jeb Patton (who wrote the Preludes) and his quintet, quite well, actually. Patton, who grew up in a household where listening to classical music was the norm, never forgot those early years even as he moved toward jazz and found his calling there. When Covid struck in 2020, Patton had time to revisit his ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today!

The gifted, versatile saxophonist/clarinetist/composer John Ellis occupies an imaginary (and extremely imaginative) space directly between the celebratory, welcoming spirit of New Orleans and the edgy, frantic streets of New York City. Both as the leader of his own eclectic projects and as an in-demand sideman for a mind-boggling number and variety of artists, Ellis expresses a keen intellect and easy virtuosity while maintaining a mischievous gleam in his eye and never ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2019

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2018

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2017

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2016

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today!

“It\'s hard to say those two words next to each other and not smile," says John Ellis about Puppet Mischief, the title of the saxophonist\'s latest album with his band Double-Wide, to be released Feb. 23rd on ObliqSound. That statement— and the images conveyed by the album\'s intriguing title— applies equally to the music within. Puppet Mischief... Read more.

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci
April 13, 2015

All About Jazz is celebrating John Ellis' birthday today! “It\'s hard to say those two words next to each other and not smile," says John Ellis about Puppet Mischief, the title of the saxophonist\'s latest album with his band Double-Wide, to be released Feb. 23rd on ObliqSound. That statement — and the images conveyed by the album\'s intriguing title — applies equally to the music within. Puppet Mischief... Read more. Place our Musician of the Day widget on your website ...
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Performance / Tour

John Ellis & Andy Bragen Present Mobro - A Narrative Chamber Piece At The Jazz Gallery, May 30 & 31

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
May 30, 2014

John Ellis & Andy Bragen Present The CD Release Celebration for MOBRO And the Official Launch of Ellis' New Label, Parade Light Records, May 30 & 31 at The Jazz Gallery, one set only @ 9:00 PM Featuring: Becca Stevens, Miles Griffith, Sachal Vasandani, Johnaye Kendrick, Shane Endsley, John Clark, Alan Ferber, Josh Roseman, Mike Moreno, Ryan Scott, Joe Sanders, Rodney Green, and Roberto Lange A New Work Commissioned by The Jazz Gallery in 2011, MOBRO marks the first CD ...
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