NEW IDEAS
(Prestige © 1961, New Jazz/OJC OJCCD-431-2 © 1992)

TRACK LISTING
Natural H.
Despair To Hope
Uh-Huh
Four and Three
Imitation
Solo
Cock and Bull
Tragedy

PERSONNEL
Don Ellis - trumpet, piano, slide whistle; Al Francis - vibes; Jaki Byard - piano; Ron Carter - bass; Charlie Persip - drums

REVIEW
This album is a good example of Don's adventurous small-group compositions. It's a nice companion piece to "How Time Passes," which uses basically the same rhythm section, save but the obscure-yet-talented Al Francis. For all of the music's complexities, Mr. Ellis does his best in the liner notes to explain the theory behind each and every song. "Despair To Hope" is a John Cage-inspired piece, featuring just Don and Al, that improvises a mood shift the title implies. Other great tunes are "Natural H." and "Imitation." "Solo" is, well, simply Don improvising unaccompanied.

The rhythm section here perfectly supports Don's ideas, and the music is both sparse and dense, swinging yet modern. Jaki Byard is one of my favorite pianists, and I could easily recommend picking up any of his releases as well.

I think fans of his George Russell days will enjoy this set. This CD has been out for a while, and I find it ironic that most of Don's albums featuring his orchestra are still out of print.

The album cover at the bottom is a repressing of the original LP. The trippy lettering and "new" photo of Don suggest that Prestige wanted to cash in on Don's success with his late 60s orchestra. It mustn't have worked very well since I rarely ever see the alternate cover floating around...but this is all speculation. If anyone out there knows why the cover was changed, let me know.