By a Thread

John Ellis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 9, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: HYENA Records
• ASIN: B000F3UICW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,626 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

"I wasn't particularly trying to make a jazz record, a funk record, a world music record, but rather to make a record that is an honest attempt to create a personal sound," state Ellis. "Personally, I love music that falls into many different categories, so the goal was really just to create good music."

"By A Thread was recorded after a series of weekly gigs at the Knitting Factory’s Tap Bar. During those gigs I had the opportunity to develop some new music and to play with some different musicians who lived in New York City. I had wanted to get a band together here that I felt as strong about as the group I had been working with in New Orleans. The idea was to make a record that was more a document of a working band," explains Ellis. "I had also been rediscovering, perhaps even craving, harmony after playing so much rhythm-based music (with Charlie Hunter), and so I had some tunes that drew more from that element of my playing than on my previous Hyena record."

Product Description

John Ellis, up until recently, was best known for his work as tenor saxophonist for the widely popular Charlie Hunter Trio. However, with the release in 2005 of his own set, One Foot In The Swamp, that began to change. As a leader, Ellis drew rave reviews from the likes of The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Chicago Reader, Downbeat and Jazz Times. He toured his quintet around the U.S. packing jazz clubs and gaining new fans at every stop. Now, Ellis takes the next step in becoming a marquee jazz leader with his new album, By A Thread, a powerful and progressive collection that consistently proves his voice on tenor & soprano saxophone to be singular and inspired. And his songs are equally as compelling--and notice we say "songs," not compositions—because Ellis has a gift for hooks and melody which provides for material that’s far more than a vehicle to simply improvise. His are tunes that stay with us long after the album ends and find their own little corner in our subconscious. John Ellis’ By A Thread is a modern jazz record that people will talking about for years to come.

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