March 2005
John
Ellis
'One Foot in the Swamp'
Hyena Records
 If,
as the title of his new album suggests, saxophonist
John Ellis has one foot in the swamp – meaning
the Southern-fried funk of New Orleans, where he spent
his formative musical years and recorded his new disc
– his other foot is firmly planted in the more
adventurous modern jazz scene of his current base here
in New York. It’s that mix of North and South,
Big Easy and Big Apple, funk and futuristic sounds that
makes Ellis one of the more exciting young artists to
emerge in recent years.
A
key member of guitar whiz Charlie Hunter’s group,
Ellis is a fluid, expressive tenor player with chops
to spare. And he’s lined up a first rate band
to support him, including Aaron Goldberg on electric
keyboards and the Crescent City rhythm section of Jason
Marsalis on drums and Roland Guerin on bass; plus special
guests John Scofield on guitar, Nichoas Payton on trumpet
and harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret. The album
opens with the aptly titled “Happy,” but
then turns in a more challenging post bop direction
with such fine original compositions as “Work
In Progress,” “Bonus Round” and “Seeing
Mice.” Scofield turns in some especially
nasty licks on “One For the Kelpers” another
funk number set to a New Orleans shuffle. The
album’s most
memorable tune is the closer, “Sippin’ Cider,”
an irresistible
foot-tapping reworking of a folk tune with an insistent
Big Easy beat laid down by Marsalis and Guerin.
Throughout,
Ellis seamlessly mixes his down-home roots with NYC
sophistication, making this entertaining and provocative
album one of the early year’s big successes.
--Joel
Roberts
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16545
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