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Lisle Ellis

Lisle Ellis is a multifaceted creator whose work reflects his interests in music, visual art, computers/ technology, and community. As a composer and improvisor-bassist his oeuvre spans three decades and two countries and has brought him international recognition as an artist with an exceptional vision. Some critics consider him to possess an important voice and to have made a significant contribution to the field of experimental music. Recent years have also brought him attention as a creator of computer/ electronic music and as a visual artist. Ellis began playing electric bass in his teens and worked professionally from an early age in numerous environments including studios, radio & tv shows, and even strip clubs. When his teacher and mentor, Walter Robertson, suddenly died in 1974, Ellis abandoned his studies at a music conservatory in Vancouver, Canada in favor of the seminal, and now legendary, Creative Music Studio in New York. There, over a period of several years, he had intimate contact with the vital NYC music scene at a time of surging changes and extraordinary developments.

Lisle Ellis, as the 1986 winner and first recipient of Canada's prestigious Frederick Stone Award -- given annually to a musician for integrity and innovation -- affirms the pioneering role he played in the development of improvised and experimental music in his native Canada. Particularly, in Vancouver in the early 1980's, and the late 80's in Montreal, Ellis was a conspicuous activator of musician alliance organizations, performance venues, and concert series presentations. One collective in particular, Vancouver's New Orchestra Workshop, is still active nearly thirty years later.

Almost immediately after relocating to the United States in 1992, Ellis's music began to attract attention and acclaim on a global level. His recording, Kaleidoscopes: The Ornette Coleman Songbook (Hat Art), with pianist Paul Plimley, was given five stars in Downbeat Magazine and has been hailed as a modern masterpiece.

Ellis's distinct instrumental voice has been heard in a multitude of concerts on the world stage in the company of legends of the avant-garde such as Paul Bley, Peter Broetzmann, Andrew Cyrille, Joe Mcphee, and Cecil Taylor; leading contemporary players Marilyn Crispell, Dave Douglas, Fred Frith, and John Zorn, and on more than 40 recordings for international labels such as Black Saint, DIW, and Hat Art, and New World.

Currently, Ellis's principal interest is in developing an electro-acoustic architecture he calls string- circuitry-confluence. Secondary to that are projects such as his long standing trio with Larry Ochs and Donald Robinson called What We Live, Di Terra, an Italy based trio with Alberto Braida and Fabrizio Spera, and duos with pianists Paul Plimley and Mike Wofford.

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158
Album Review

Lisle Ellis: Sucker Punch Requiem: An Homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat

Read "Sucker Punch Requiem: An Homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat" reviewed by Clifford Allen


Painter, graffitist and collagist Jean-Michel Basquiat was an unmistakable force in New York during the late '70s and into the '80s, certainly the latter decade's first American art stars and one of the art world's first black stars. Initially known by his tag SAMO (referencing both Sambo and “Same Old..."), he was championed by Warhol for his use of street language and vernacular elements in a proliferation of large, abstract paintings. He was also guitarist in the no wave band ...

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Album Review

Lisle Ellis: Sucker Punch Requiem: An Homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat

Read "Sucker Punch Requiem: An Homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat" reviewed by Troy Collins


Canadian born bassist and Renaissance man, Lisle Ellis opens a new chapter in his development with Sucker Punch Requiem. A tribute to the revered painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ellis' all-star septet offers a diverse program of musical ideas that mirrors Basquiat's idiosyncratic vision.

With ties across Canada, New York City and the Bay Area, Ellis has been a highly valued collaborator for almost three decades. A brief hiatus from performing in the late 1990s found him channeling his creative ...

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Recording

New CD Urban Ruminations with Oliver Lake, Paul Smoker, Scott R. Looney, and Lisle Ellis

New CD Urban Ruminations with Oliver Lake, Paul Smoker, Scott R. Looney, and Lisle Ellis

Source: Michael Ricci

Metaphysical Records announces the release of its newest CD, Urban Rumination, an innovative improvising quartet featuring free jazz veterans Oliver Lake on saxes, Paul Smoker on trumpet, and Lisle Ellis on bass, combined with unique sounds by newcomer and Bay Area pianist Scott R. Looney, who straddles the boundaries between traditional free jazz piano ala Cecil Taylor and Marilyn Crispell, and the more adventurous textures and timbres of prepared pianists like Denman Maroney and Agusti Fernandez.

The music ranges from ...

Primary Instrument

Bass

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Faculty Member University of California Summer Jazz Camp 2002-08. Numerous, workshops, clinics, and lectures through out the US and Canada. Cultivating Creativity - Class on Creative process 2001-03, University of California Extension program

Clinic/Workshop Information

Faculty Member University of California Summer Jazz Camp 2002-08. Numerous, workshops, clinics, and lectures through out the US and Canada. Cultivating Creativity - Class on CRqtvie process 2001-02, University of California Extension program

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sucker Punch Requiem:...

Henceforth Records
2008

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American Roadwork

Henceforth Records
2004

buy

Children In Peril

Henceforth Records
1997

buy

What We Live

Henceforth Records
1996

buy

Elevations

Henceforth Records
1994

buy

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