esperanza (hope)

John Ellis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 9, 2002)
• Original Release Date: December 9, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fizzywater Records
• ASIN: B0000WU3DC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,707,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. One for the Bad Man (for Miles Davis)

2. Esperanza

3. Tango Paradiso

4. Brothers

5. Refuge

6. Hip Bop

7. Samba Noir

8. Mr. Bennett

9. New World

10. Venezia

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Ellis attended Temple University and graduated in 1967. While there, he jammed frequently and became a nightly fixture at Pep’s Lounge and the Showboat, local Philly clubs where he was fortunate enough to get up close and personal with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.

With the demise of jazz during the decades of the sixties and seventies, John literally had to improvise his playing style in order to get work, performing and recording with a long-forgotten New York City Salsa band called Latin Dimensions. He also stayed close to the "City of Brotherly Love" (where he still resides) backing legendary R&B vocalists, Jackie Wilson and Wilson Pickett at the fabled Uptown Club. During the 1980s, John put down his horn to focus on writing and arranging. Happily for the jazz world, he picked up his horn in 1994 and hasn’t put it back in his case since!

Ellis has released two prior dates on his own label (Fizzywater): "Blues for the Bad Man"(1999) and "Morning Light" (2000), featuring the heavyweight New York support of Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Edward Simon, Eddie Gomez and Al Foster. Cats of this high caliber simply do not perform with just anyone, Proof of Ellis’s reputation amongst his fellow musicians.

Product Description

His latest release, "Esperanza" is a wonderful pastiche of trumpet virtuosity with something for everyone: from burning straight ahead trumpet solos and soothing Bossa Nova Sambas, to beautiful ballads and some killer, infectious hip bop.

Upon carefully listening to Ellis, one might hear an amalgam of Dizzy Gillespie during his Latin ‘French Riviera’/Lalo Schiffrin period, Miles Davis during his muted "Sketches of Spain" period, Chuck Mangione during his lyrical "Land of Make Believe" period, Freddie Hubbard during his influential CTI period and finally, Tom Harrell during his romantic, strings period.

You’ll also hear John’s homage to the art of film scoring complete with his brooding trumpet that’s somewhat reminiscent of Bernard Hermann’s haunting score of Martin Scorsese’s classic "Taxi Driver." Perhaps you’ll also pick up flashes of Maria, from Leonard Bernstein’s legendary score of "West Side Story." Regardless, whatever or whomever you hear in Ellis’s playing, it’s truly his own and indeed, masterful, at that.

John Ellis’s "Esperanza," a musical gift of ‘hope’ to the world