Pieces of Eight

by Don Ellis

Overview

Recorded live at UCLA in 1967, this archival release is seeing the light of day repackaged and remastered nearly four decades after its initial performance. Pieces of Eight was assembled only once for these recordings, with Don Ellis offering up a two-disc set of frenzied but enjoyable performances. The highlights are no doubt Ellis' fascination with difficult rhythmic combinations and manic fluctuations of odd time signatures and his band, surprisingly, performs most of the material with great fluidity. There's also a surprising amount of microtonality from the players as well. Fans of Ellis' work will no doubt revel in these compositions and what is essentially a "new" recording from a truly groundbreaking composer.~ Rob Theakston

Product Details

Release Date:	11/12/2021
Label:	Wounded Bird
UPC:	0664140600027
Rank:	99811

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Slippin' 'N' Slidin'
2. Sadness Shouldn't Go so Deep
3. Bali Dancer
4. With Respect to Coltrane
5. Pete's 7
6. Let's Go to Sleep
7. Blues for Hari

Disc 2

8. Milestones
9. It's a Snap
10. I Love Us
11. The Squeeze
12. Lush Life
13. Turk's Works

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Don Ellis   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Dave Wells   Trombone
Dave MacKay   Piano
Tom Scott   Clarinet,Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor)
Chino Valdes   Bongos,Congas
Alan Estes   Timbales,Percussion
Steve Bohannon   Drums
Ray Neapolitan   Bass

Technical Credits

Terry Wachsmuth   Executive Producer
Don Ellis   Arranger,Composer
Billy Strayhorn   Composer
Miles Davis   Composer
Arif Mardin   Arranger,Composer
Tom Scott   Arranger,Composer
Tom Oberheim   Engineer
Nick DiScala   Liner Notes
Todd Fronauer   Design,Layout Design