Thursday, August 12, 2010

Don Ellis - Live In India

I got this email in the 'Inbox' a few days ago :

"At last, I can now report that "Don Ellis Live in India" - recorded at the "Jazz Yatra" Festival, Bombay in 1978 - is now available from www.sleepynightrecords.com (go to Media to hear music clips and Info for more details).
The quintet was specially formed by Don Ellis for the very first "Jazz Yatra" presentation.
Niranjan Jhaveri - founder and honorary secretary-general - was a long-time close friend of Don's, so it was a natural choice for him to invite Don - along with another close friend, Sonny Rollins, to perform at the festival. Both groups appeared for "expenses only".
Just over 2 years ago, I spoke to Gary Gillies about the possibilities of his record label - Sleepy Night Records - issuing "lost tape" material, in a series dedicated to Don Ellis. We agreed that these "Jazz Yatra" sessions would make an excellent Volume 1.
I had been in contact from time to time, over a number of years, with Niranjan, so I asked him for further details. Niranjan was by then very ill and approaching the age of 80. Nevertheless, he was very helpful and gave permission - on behalf of "Jazz Yatra" - for us to go ahead with the project.
My next step was to try and contact the remaining members of the quintet: Emilie, Randy, Leon and David (luckily, I managed to trace them all) and also Don's son Brav, for permission from Ellis Music Enterprises. Photographs, program, memories, etc, came and are included in the 20-page booklet accompanying the C.D.
Emilie checked out listed items we believed were the "master tapes" housed in Don's collection at U.C.L.A. These turned out to be 8mm film, that Don had shot during their "vacation periods" in India and Egypt. This, in itself, was a "lost" recovery, for Emilie knew of Don's filming, but the footage was presumed lost. We were left with what Emilie had already: the cassette tapes of the sessions, that Don had given her on their return to the U.S.A.
David undertook the huge task of clean-up and editing of this problematic source material and the results are superb.
This whole project has been a "labor of love" by all. Gary and Sleepy Night Records have financed the manufacture of a limited edition of just 1,000 copies and I sincerely hope that he will recover the cost through sufficient sales, which would also allow us to go ahead with a planned Volume 2 of the "Lost Tapes of a Musical Legend".
There is a limited number of copies available free to review by interested writers, magazines, etc, who wish to transmit their views to a wider public.
To close this report on a very sad note, I learned just a few days ago - by checking the Jazz Yatra Internet site - that Niranjan Jhaveri passed away on May 21st of this year (cancer). If we had known of this sooner, a special tribute would have been inserted within the C.D booklet. We now dedicate this album to the memory of Niranjan Jhaveri, whose love and involvement in jazz music were monumental."

2 comments:

  1. THis is terrific.. Who was the person who sent the information ? I would like to interview that person for my Blog on Jazz in India

    see my documentary film WWW.FINDINGCARLTON.COM
    and the link to the blog http://bluerhythm.wordpress.com

    you will see a clip for WIllis Conover at Jazz Yatra 78 and maybe even Don !

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    1. Hi, thanks for your reaction on a rather old post, to be honest i honest, i don't remember where i got the mail from. I try to check in my mail archives...

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