Lisle Ellis
| Lisle Ellis | |
|---|---|
 Ellis performing at The Living Theatre in NYC 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born |
17 November 1951 Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupations | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Upright Bass, Bass guitar |
| Website | www.lisleellis.com |
Lisle Ellis, (born November 17, 1951) is a Canadian composer and bassist who is known for his improvisational style and use of electronics.
Biography
Born in Campbell River, British Columbia, 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 studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Walter Robertson and attended Douglas College in Vancouver. He later studied at the Creative Music Studio in New York from 1975-1979.[1]
Ellis lived in Toronto, Canada from 1982 until 1983 and then Montreal, Canada from 1983 until 1992.
In 1986 Ellis was the first recipient of Canada's Fred Stone Award, given annually to a musician for integrity and innovation. In the early 1980s 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.
After relocating to the United States in 1992, he initially settled in San Francisco, working with Glenn Spearman from 1992 until 2001. He relocated to 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 Brotzmann, 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, with pianist Paul Plimley, was given five stars in Down Beat magazine.
Since the late 1990s, 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.
Selected Discography
- 1978-79 - New Orchestra Quintet: "Collected Recordings"
- 1982 - Paul Cram: "Blue Tales in Time" (Onari)
- 1988/89 - Lisle Ellis: Archipelago (ind.)
- 1990 - The Paul Plimley Lisle Ellis Duo: "Both sides of the Same Mirror" (Nine Winds)
- 1991 - Plimley / Ellis / Cyrille: "When Silence Pulls" (Music And Arts Programs Of America, Inc.)
- 1992 - Paul Plimley & Lile Ellis: "Kaleidoscopes" (HatArt)
- 1992 - Paul Plimley / Lisle Ellis / Gregg Bendian: "Noir" (Les Disques Victo)
- 1994 - Joe McPhee / Lisle Ellis / Paul Plimley: "Sweet Freedom - Now What?" (HatArt)
- 1994 - Paul Plimley Trio: "Density of the Lovestruck Demons" (Music & Arts) mit Donald Robinson
- 1994 - Lisle Ellis "Elevations" (Les Disques Victo)
- 1994/95 - Glenn Spearman: Free Worlds (Black Saint)
- 1995 - What We Live: "What We Live" (D.I.W)
- 1995 - Glenn Spearman Double Trio: "The Fields" (Black Saint)
- 1995 - Larry Ochs: "The Secret Magritte" (Black Saint)
- 1995 - ROVA: "John Coltrane's Ascension" (Black Saint)
- 1996 - What We Live: "What We Live Fo(u)r" (Black Saint)
- 1996 - Ben Goldberg: "Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin" (Les Disques Victo)
- 1996 - India Cooke "Redhanded" (Music And Arts Programs Of America, Inc.)
- 1996 - Matthew Goodheart with Glenn Spearman, Lisle Ellis, Donald Robinson: "Sonoluminescence" (Nine Winds Records)
- 1997 - L.S. Ellis : "Children In Peril" (Music And Arts Programs Of America, Inc.)
- 1997 - Spearman's G-force: "Let It Go" (Red Toucan)
- 1999 - Paul Plimley Trio: "Safecrackers" (Les Disques Victo)
- 1999 - What We Live: "Trumpets" (Black Saint)
- 1999 - What We Live: "Quintet For A Day" (New World Records)
- 1999 - Glenn Spearman: "Blues for Felasha" (Tzadik)
- 1999 - Patrick Brennan: "Saunters, Walks, Ambles" (CIMP)
- 2002 - Marcos Fernandes: "Hybrid Vigor" (Accretions)
- 2002 - What We Live "On Tour in France" (Metalanguage)
- 2002 - Marcos Fernandes "Pictures in Sound" (Accretions)
- 2004 - Sound on Survival: "American Roadwork" (CIMP)
- 2004 - Sound on Survival "Live at Spruce Street Forum" (Botticelli)
- 2005? - Lisle Ellis / Oliver Lake / Paul Smoker / Scott R. Looney: "Urban Rumination" (META Records)
- 2005 - Sound on Survival: "Live" (Henceforth Records)
- 2006 - Alberto Braida/Lisle Ellis/Fabrizio Spera: "Di Terra" (Nu Bop Records)
- 2008 - Lisle Ellis: "Sucker Punch Requiem" (Henceforth Records)
- 2010 - Kirk Knuffke, Kenny Wollesen, Lisle Ellis: "Chew Your Food" (NoBusiness Records)
- 2012 - Ictus Records 35th Anniversary Collection (Ictus)
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lisle Ellis. |
- www.lisleellis.com
- PUNKCAST#1255 live @ The Living Theatre NYC, Jan 19 2008.(RealPlayer, mp4, DivX)
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