darkprinceofjazz Electric Bath was the 1968 breakthrough album for Don Ellis, An album that was nominated for a Grammy Award, It won the "Album of the year award" in Down Beat Magazine. and went to #8 on the Billboard Jazz Album Chart. Indian Lady the Most Famous tune from the album, with New Horizons and Turkish Bath close behind, One of the real groundbreaking songs was Open Beauty, a spacey psychedelic type tune, with Echo-plexed electronic Trumpet, A real experimental feat for the time. The whole album is very cohesive ,swinging like crazy and incorporating the Indian and middle eastern musical influences don was into at this time, The music must have really seemed Ground breaking at the time. Electric Bath is hardly ever mentioned as an all time great. But I think it is within modern big band circles any way. It does not sound dated at all, and the a fore mentioned Open Beauty really points to some of the electric experimentation within jazz to come, The Moody atmosphere is reminiscent of the Title Track to Bitches Brew, as well as Davis's rearrangement of The Wayne Shorter Composition Sanctuary. Most People don't even know Don was responsible for the film score to the Academy Award winning film "The French Connection",(try finding that on CD) Had Don not died 1978 at the young age of 44, he may now be a house hold name, I have all of his albums on vinyl and CD, Electric bath was probably his best fully realized work, His Pacific Jazz releases prior to this album are all worth hearing, and later, Tears of Joy and Soaring are great as well.

js Released in late 1967, Electric Bath shows Ellis already using the odd-metered rhythms and exotic instrumentation that will be trademarks of his big band for the rest of his career. Likewise, the album also shows him leaning a bit towards rock. He definitely was breaking the pre-existing big band mold with this recording by using electronic keyboards, percussion from around the world, as well as influences from modern composers. Side one is the more aggressive side with Ellis and crew rocking out old school style, with loud brassy punches and choruses, and a driving group of drummers and percussionists. This Side closes with the song Electric Bath,, something that might appeal to fans of Zappa's late 60s - early 70s big band music with it's snaky atonal melody and middle odd-metered groove section. Ellis' influence on Zappa's music is obvious during this time period.

On side two things get a bit more interesting when the big band fades to more of a background orchestra as percussion and echoed electric pianos provide atmosphere. Open Beauty starts like a modern acid jazz tune with spacey Fender Rhodes sounds before Ellis' mini-orchestra slowly fills in the background. This side is the more 'exotic' side also with drums often replaced by congas, tablas and other percussion instruments, it also contains Ellis' infamous trumpet solo through an echoplex, one of the first jazz solos ever recorded this way. Loved by the California youth that Don was starting to appeal to, but hated by the jazz critics, this solo brought Ellis a lot of attention, but not all of it good.

The album closer, New Horizons, opens with neo-classical melodies before a beatnik bongo beat drives a trio of flutes in an intertwining cool jazz improv; five finger snaps! Later, mellow Debussy horn harmonies are topped with another Ellis horn solo while Mike Lang's electric piano echoes in the background. Finally more hard groovin odd-metered horn driven jazz takes us to some modern orchestrated diversions and the final big horn showdown.

A great album on its own, this album should be particularly interesting to fans of early odd-metered horn driven jazz rock bands such as Soft Machine, Frank Zappa and King Crimson. All of that begins with Don Ellis.

FunkFreak75 Late in 1967, Columbia Records releases their first collaboration with The DON ELLIS ORCHESTRA in the form of a studio album entitled, Electric Bath. Fresh out of the euphoric haze of two very successful live albums and a year of almost continuous touring to festival and rock 'n' roll audiences, Don welcomed the new partnership with Columbia producer John Hammond and with it the chance to work out some of his ideas in a studio setting. Over the course of two days in September (the 16th & 17th) the band put down on tape several songs, five of which would end up on the Grammy Award nominated and Down Beat magazine "1968 Album of the Year."

1. "Indian Lady" (8:07) When I first heard the opening bars to this piece, I was immediately drawn to a comparison to the music of ROBERT WYATT's "Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road" from his 1974 comeback album, Rock Bottom. The song, played in 5/4 time throughout (and released as a single in a shortened three-minute version), is actually rather famous for its almost-comical multiple "attempts" to end throughout the song. Despite the large ensemble of musicians, the music somehow comes across smoothly, far more easy for the brain to accommodate than one might expect. Heck! There are even some melodic HERB ALPERT-like riffs and motifs. (13.5/15)

2. "Alone" (5:32) soothing and filled with gorgeous melodies, this one reminds me of some of the mellower pieces on my beloved 1970s albums by Eumir Deodato and Bob James as well as many of the jazzy television music providing background and mood for popular television shows that I would watch as a small child in the late 1966s--like I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and The Newlywed Show. Lots of big banks of horns. (9.5/10)

3. "Turkish Bath" (10:29) dynamic music with an Indian base coming from the sitar, tabla and other Indian percussion, as well as flutes and slurring horns. Once set in motion the Latin rhythms and melody structure give it a feel quite similar to Billy Page's song "The 'In' Crowd" as made popular by Dobie Gray and Ramsey Lewis. Who knew that Indian instruments, big band horns, and electric clavinet could be melded together so easily into a bassa nova song?!! (18/20)

4. "Open Beauty" (8:27) beautiful and yet haunting in a psychedelic way thanks to the electric effects applied to the keyboard and vibraphone. Unusual for the minimal presence of drums or other percussives. The extended quarter-tone trumpet solo with echo effect from 5:30 to 8:05 is also remarkable for its particular singularity. (17.5/20)

5. "New Horizons" (12:21) this is a song that sounds to my untrained ear like a pretty standard big band jazz piece. If there are extraordinary things happening I'm not able to pick them up; it's just another long piece with minimal melodic hooks played within a base of a Latin-rock rhythms. (21.75/25)

Total Time 44:56

The musicianship is incredible all-around; how 20 musicians can play such complex music so seamlessly and cohesively is nothing short of amazing. Don's mission to open the West up to the odd meter times "naturally" used in the rest of the world's folk traditions had begun in earnest and would not quit through the rest of the Sixties, only take a slight Bulgarian left turn in the Seventies thanks to his meeting and pairing up with Bulgarian jazz and piano sensation Milcho Leviev.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of boundary-pushing jazz-rock fusion.