State of Mind

Dave Ellis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Milestone
• ASIN: B00008Z475
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,751 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Not That You Asked

2. Barbados

3. Soul-Leo

4. Something to Live For

5. Sunshowers

6. Grand Central

7. Don't Blame Me

8. Isabella Blue

9. Peace

10. Summertime

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ellis gets on the straightaway with the masters, May 12, 2003

By 

James E. Pendergrass "jedwardp" (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: State of Mind (Audio CD)

If you're a fan of traditional jazz rather than of the heavily R & B-influenced variety, you might've avoided or disliked Ellis's first two albums as a leader. But this set, his first for the Milestone label, is definitely worth the attentions of those of us who prefer our jazz "Straight-up."

Start with the sidemen: These include such post-bop notables as bassist Christian McBride, drummer Louis Nash, and pianist Mulgrew Miller, three artists who can keep things swinging without ever going too far from a path laid by jazz masters of old.

And the selection of tunes is a tribute to some of those masters, as there are compositions of Coltrane, Ellington and Strayhorn, Charlie Parker, Jimmy McHugh, Horace Silver, and the Gershwins.

Mixed in are two of Ellis's own songs, and all are played well.

This album won't ever be one of the classics, but it pays homage to some, and shouldn't be casually passed over by any jazz lover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dave Ellis is just warming up, July 3, 2007

By 

Ronald Cabral "Ron Cabral" (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: State of Mind (Audio CD)

State of Mind is a wonderful jazz CD. Dave Ellis is just warming up and his all time best is yet to come, but this has to be his all time best to date. A former Sax player in Bob Weir's RATDOG he is a seasoned professional who has been there and done that. He is a true Sax genius with over tones of a young John Coltrane and Stan Getz combined. His strong rock and roll background gives him that extra drive that you hear and feel in his great playing - it comes off the ground at times. Highly recommended... especially if you are a true jazz lover...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'd better have a strong, original voice . . ., August 18, 2003

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: State of Mind (Audio CD)

. . . if as leader you select Mulgrew Miller for the piano chair.

Case in point: Dave Ellis, tenor sax player in the Charlie Hunter Band, and his new disc, State of Mind. Miller literally takes over the proceedings and leaves Ellis in the dust. Check out Miller's solo on his brilliant composition, "Soul-Leo," where he rips off stunning and imaginative runs as if they were the merest trifles, while the leader struggles to come up with something, anything significant to say.

Never less than competent, Ellis has yet to find a distinctive voice on tenor sax. Actually, he's pretty convincing on the ballads--a good sign for future development--but seems somewhat lost on the more uptempo numbers.

Yet time and again things really only come alive when Miller is front and center. With literally hundreds of recording dates under his belt, it's no wonder: he's paid his dues, struggled to find his voice, and it gloriously shines forth here. In fact, if one were to regard this as Miller's recording, it would be hard to deny it five stars.

But it's not. However, if you're on to Miller, you will definitely want to add this disc to your collection; it really is one of his finest efforts. Throw in two towering rhythm sections--Peter Washington (bass) and Carl Alan (drums) or Christian McBride (bass) and Louis Nash (drums)--and you have some awesome possibilities for great music, which, it must be said, is regularly delivered. And I don't want to portray Ellis as a stiff; actually, he's developing quite nicely from his Charlie Hunter days and his previous two solo outings.

It's just that he's chosen to put himself in some very rarified settings. That he doesn't always fully rise to the occasion doesn't diminish the quality of the proceedings; it just means that he's not the leader he might one day become. In the meantime, he's made some very creditable music on this disc, brought most fully to life by his choice of top drawer bandmates.

4 and 1/2 stars.