Lisle Ellis

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Lisle Ellis in 2008

Lisle Ellis, (b. November 17, 1951, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada) improvising bassist/composer known for his improvisational style and use of electronics.

Ellis studied at the Vancouver Conservatory of Music with Walter Robertson and also attended Douglas College in Vancouver. He later studied at the Creative Music Studio in New York from 1975-1979. 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.

Ellis lived in Toronto, Canada from 1982 until 1983 and then Montreal, Canada from 1983 until 1992.

Lisle Ellis, was the 1986 and first recipient of Canada's Fred Stone Award -- given annually to a musician for integrity and innovation. In the early 1980's in Vancouver, 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.

He relocated to the United States in 1992, living first in San Francisco from 1992 until 2001, San Diego from 2001 until 2005, and New York, 2005 to the present. In 1994 he was a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit for a brief tour of California.

Ellis's discography includes performances with, Peter Broetzmann, Andrew Cyrille, Joe McPhee, Dave Douglas, Glenn Spearman and about 40 recordings for international labels such as Black Saint, DIW, Hat Art, New World and Victo. His 1989 recording, Kaleidoscopes: The Ornette Coleman Songbook (Hat Art), with pianist Paul Plimley, was given five stars in Downbeat magazine.

Since the late 1990's, Ellis has been primarily focused on developing an electro-acoustic interface he calls bass & circuitry. By 2008, with the completion of a template for this interface Ellis turned his attention back to acoustic music projects with an emphasis on jazz based improvisation and to finding a balance between his electronic and acoustic music interests.

Central to Ellis's music, and a vehicle for both his electronic and acoustic experiments, has been his long standing trio with Larry Ochs and Donald Robinson called What We Live. Di Terra, an Italy based trio with Alberto Braida (piano), and Fabrizio Spera (drums), has been an exclusively acoustic music vehicle for Ellis. His experimental trio Audible Means with Ellery Eskelin (saxophone), and Erik Deutsch (keyboards), was active on the New York scene in 2006 and 2007 and was a focal point for Ellis's bass & circuitry explorations. Since his arrival in New York, collaborations and interactions with composer/electronic musician Tom Hamilton have also been important to Ellis's work in electronic music.