CD of the Day - "Don Ellis: Soaring"

CD of the Day
Don Ellis: "Soaring" (MPS/Verve) 2008

Reissue (produced by Matthias Kunnecke for Verve's "Jazz Club" series) of Don Ellis' excellent 1978 LP for the MPS label.
Originally recorded under the supervision of Baldhard G. Falk in Hollywood, California, it features the late Don Ellis playing trumpet, electric trumpet, flugelhorn and even drums (on "The Devil Made Me Write This Piece"). Don's electrified and electrifying big-band includes such great musicians as Gary Herbig, Fred Selden and Sam Falzone, playing on top of an intrepid rhythm section: Bulgarian genius Milcho Leviev (acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, organ & clavinet), bassist Dave McDaniel (who recorded on the Wayne Shorter/Milton Nascimento's collaboration "Native Dancer"), drummer Ralph Humphrey, percussionists Lee Pastora & Ron Dunn, and guitarist Jay Graydon (also heard on "Native Dancer"). The ingenious scores also incorporate an "electric string quartet". Highly recommended.