DON ELLIS — Electric Bath (review)

DON ELLIS — Electric Bath album cover Album · 1967 · Progressive Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
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.
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