I love how the internet has made exploring music a lot easier. Watching a live Billy Cobham video, from Norway, in ‘74 (see below), I was as taken with some of the clothing as I was with the blisteringly intense post-Mahavishnu prog’ fusion.
I was also introduced to Milcho Leviev, a Bulgarian jazz pianist I’d not been aware of before. I’d heard him on recordings, but not been aware of him as an individual.
Turns out he was not only a sideman with Billy Cobham and co, touring and recording with the drummer during the seventies, but he also worked with trumpeter and composer/bandleader Don Ellis.
Trivia fans might be interested to know that track one of Don Ellis’ 1973’s Soaring album is a certain Whiplash, by saxophonist and composer Hank Levy… as used in, and indeed giving it’s name to, the 2014 ‘jazz studies horror’ film of that name.
Anyway, back to Haiku, also released in ‘73. It’s the kind of album that causes some, so called ‘jazz purists’, for example, to break out in sweaty or clammy hot n’ cold flushes, and all manner of other febrile eruptive ailments, wondering, ‘but… is it jazz?’
Who gives a good goddamn? My main criterion for music is, do I like it? Or put another way, does it move me, or in some way connect with me? And the answer with Haiku is, yes, in a mixed bag of ways.
Don Ellis is yet another character, or star, within the many galaxies of music, and jazz music within that, that I simply must explore more. I didn’t realise he was also a drummer, as well as a famed trumpeter and bandleader, composer, etc.
He’s done a lot of film soundtrack work. And is also known for composing and performing music in unusual time signatures, and what was once referred to as ‘Third Stream’ experimentalism. This last refers to bringing elements of the so called classical tradition to bear, on jazz and popular music.
As well as featuring Leviev, on keys, who I just discovered thanks to the Cobham concert footage, these two also share contributions from trombonist Glenn Ferris. And there are other notable and/or recognisable names, such as guitarist Jay Graydon, famed for his solo on Steely Dan’s Peg.
The above video captures a later Don Ellis group performing live at Montreux Jazz Festival. Holy guacamole! Seriously intense. The more I hear Don Ellis, the more I want to hear.
I definitely want to add Haiku to my music collection. Being totally broke at present that’ll have to wait. But in the meantime I can enjoy it via YouTube. Which is better than not being able to hear it at all.
FOOTNOTE
A rather sad coda to this post: I discovered Don Ellis died, of a heart attack, only a year after the above 1977 Montreux performance. He was only 44 years old! He seems so full of life in the Montreux footage. Rather ironically, for an artist who is so associated with unusual time signatures, it was his heart doing just that – irregular rhythms – that killed him!