John Ellis

Heroes

 Blue Room Music

Multi-reedist John Ellis plays in a myriad of ensembles. I’ve seen him as a member of Kendrick Scott’s Oracle quintet and in Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. His discography lists more than 100 album credits as a sideman. The short list of who he has worked with besides the above are John Patitucci, the late organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenon, Charlie Hunter, Michael Leonhart, Rudy Royston, Helen Sung, and Sting. Ellis, who grew up in rural North Carolina now splits his time between New Orleans and New York. He is in so much demand, that he doesn’t often find time to lead his own group but has done so on several as a leader including three albums with his eccentric combo Double-Wide which features Gary Versace, Alan Ferber, Matt Perrine, and Jason Marsalis. He leads his own quintet of top shelf players – guitarist Mike Moreno, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Rodney Green. His most recent recording, also on Blue Room Music, was Bizet:Carmen in Jazz, adaptations and arrangements from the renowned 19^th century opera. On that outing pianist Gary Versace and bassist Reuben Rogers were aboard as they are here on Heroes, his fifteenth album as a leader. Joining them are trumpeter Mike Rodriguez (SF Jazz Collective) and drummer Kush Abadey (Melissa Aladana, Ethan Iverson).  This lineup is similar to Rodriguez’s own 2021 quintet release, Pathways, which also featured Ellis and Versace.

Rather surprisingly Ellis doesn’t resort to his arsenal of reeds on this outing, sticking strictly to the tenor saxophone and in that sense presenting the classic jazz quintet sound. Given that Ellis and Rodriguez have often shared the bandstand, their unison sound is often beyond rich; they make the quintet sound like a much larger ensemble. The title, although it may suggest such, is not an ostensible series of tributes to various musical heroes although there are plenty of examples herein, but moreover it includes mentors, friends, and family as well.

Kicking off is “Slingshot,” a 5/4 tune that introduces us to those gorgeous trumpet-tenor unison lines and provides space for solos from each in addition to Versace. Ellis comments that this is a tune written on a tune that was written on a tune. One of Rodriguez’s mentors in Florida is pianist Ron Miller who has a song called “Small Feats” which is a reharmonization of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” Ellis then took “Small Feats” and wrote this on Ron Miller’s chords. While it might be a tale of David and Goliath, listen carefully for the resemblances to Trane’s tune. The swinging hard boppish “Beautiful Day’ alludes to Fred Rogers’ “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” and traces to Ellis’ 2012 release which featured a potpourii of Rogers’ songs. You’ll hear Rogers’ theme song twisted and embellished with echoes of the great tenors such as Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, and Benny Golson.

“El Cid” is more deliberate, with drama in each note as it’s named for the medieval Castilian ruler Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (subject of the 1961 epic film El Cid starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren). The musicianship here borders naturally on the cinematic, restrained and gorgeously lyrical. “Fort Worth” is not a cover of the Joe Lovano tune of the same name but a tribute to sons of that town, Ornette Coleman and Dewey Redman. This is  a free swinger with some great kit work from Abadey and spirited exchanges between the two front line horns. “Three Jewels” touches on the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane with references to Buddhism and the Trinity as Ellis and Rodriguez reflect each other’s lines in their soaring solos and Rogers shows why he is one of the most in-demand bassists today with his expressive statement. “Color Wheel” is inspired by Bill Evans and specifically “Blue in Green” from Kind of Blue as the quintet stays modal with Versace and Ellis soloing over the same chords, which, honestly, gets a bit repetitive in the last segment.

“Linus and the Lyre” is a touch of musical humor in that in the Greek Heracles legend, young Heracles slays the great music teach Linus using a lyre as a weapon. Ellis deadpans, “I guess it’s a dedication to all music teachers.” It does have one of Ellis’s best and extended solos, as he roams fluidly all over his horn. NOLA had to enter this picture somewhere and shades of it apear in the closing “Other Saints,” which naturally invokes the Caribbean too. As such, calypso hints of Rollins’ “St. Thomas,” the island Rogers is from by the way, flow into the piece which hearkens to the soul-jazz of the ‘60s with the trumpet sax trading evoking Blue Mitchell’s recordings, and the beat of Al Foster’s “Fungii Mama.” In that sense, Ellis has quoted several heroes in just one track with each individual quintet voice distinctly heard.

Ellis has assembled a can’t miss lineup. They stay connected throughout with the harmonious blend of Ellis and Rodriguez especially impressive.

– JIm Hynes

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