I was a roadie for the Don Ellis orchestra in 1973 in LA. He specialized in odd time signatures. I also was a jazz guitar player grew up listening to Morello, Elvin Jones, DeJohnette, and many other greats... Love your sound and your set!! Best of luck!! Don had one song called The Bulgarian Bulge that was in 33/16 alternating with 36/16! Wild stuff... Best studio musicians in Los Angeles at the time..
Thank you so much for your inspiring comment! That's amazing and great, you were in touch with Don Ellis and the L.A. studio scene! It was a big impact for me in the 70's, my drum teacher those days, gave me hints to listen to Don Ellis, Frank Zappa and Steve Reich for example. Specially Zappa was a big influence for me! (Ralf Humphrey, who played with both artists, was fantastic!) Big greetings from Stuttgart, Germany and my best wishes!
Ralf was the main drummer as Don also had a set on stage and would play drums on many of the tunes. My first gig with them was the Grammy Awards as they were the house band. Don won a grammy that night for his arrangement on the score for the movie The French Connection. I got to play with a lot of legends at a number of after hour parties and jams. Ed Shaughnessy, bassist Lee Sklar, Tom Scott, Jay Graydon was the guitar player and I used to take the charts home and practice, hoping to take his place when he quit... Jay used to help me figure out what to play when the chart actually had unplayable chord reaches in places. "Don writes these charts and isn't a guitar player so he doesn't realize nobody could actually play it as he's written it. I just play something that I think sounds better in those spots and he never says anything about it... Jay was a monster! They all were really. Great experience but depressing as I chickened out when Jay quit. I used to drive Don's limo for him and one day he tried to convince me to try out but I just wasn't a good enough reader at that point and you had to be... Close but no cigar. I used to go to all the jazz clubs in LA from the time I was 16 until I moved out in 1998. Saw Miles at Shelley's Mannhole with only 50 people in the audience. Used to follow Chick Correa with Dave Holland at every small club gig they did for years. Great place and time to grow up...
@@Bigfish105 This is fantastic, working closed to such a legend like Don Ellis and playing with these great musicians! Did you record some stuff, some jams? Are you still playing in bands? I had a great chance as a big Frank Zappa fan playing and recording with one of the Mothers Of Invention drummers, with Jimmy Carl Black at the end of the 90's. He was living near Stuttgart. We did some great shows together around Germany. Those days I played sometimes Timpani and Vibraphone and also kit when Jimmy was singing.
@@steffenmoddrow5196 I have no recordings of any of it but lots of wild stories. The tuba player told me the.band was the halftime show at the superbowl months before I started there. Said the whole band was on acid for the show!
@@Bigfish105 Oh my gosh! That sounds really crazy. Hopefully they did a great job also on acid! On the other hand, those days there was a crazy freedom, which unfortunately doesn't exist anymore. Thanks for sharing!
Great work, nice example also for my advanced Students, thanks for sharing !
Great job!!!
Thanx!
I was a roadie for the Don Ellis orchestra in 1973 in LA. He specialized in odd time signatures. I also was a jazz guitar player grew up listening to Morello, Elvin Jones, DeJohnette, and many other greats... Love your sound and your set!! Best of luck!! Don had one song called The Bulgarian Bulge that was in 33/16 alternating with 36/16! Wild stuff... Best studio musicians in Los Angeles at the time..
Thank you so much for your inspiring comment! That's amazing and great, you were in touch with Don Ellis and the L.A. studio scene! It was a big impact for me in the 70's, my drum teacher those days, gave me hints to listen to Don Ellis, Frank Zappa and Steve Reich for example. Specially Zappa was a big influence for me! (Ralf Humphrey, who played with both artists, was fantastic!) Big greetings from Stuttgart, Germany and my best wishes!
Ralf was the main drummer as Don also had a set on stage and would play drums on many of the tunes. My first gig with them was the Grammy Awards as they were the house band. Don won a grammy that night for his arrangement on the score for the movie The French Connection. I got to play with a lot of legends at a number of after hour parties and jams. Ed Shaughnessy, bassist Lee Sklar, Tom Scott, Jay Graydon was the guitar player and I used to take the charts home and practice, hoping to take his place when he quit... Jay used to help me figure out what to play when the chart actually had unplayable chord reaches in places. "Don writes these charts and isn't a guitar player so he doesn't realize nobody could actually play it as he's written it. I just play something that I think sounds better in those spots and he never says anything about it... Jay was a monster! They all were really. Great experience but depressing as I chickened out when Jay quit. I used to drive Don's limo for him and one day he tried to convince me to try out but I just wasn't a good enough reader at that point and you had to be... Close but no cigar. I used to go to all the jazz clubs in LA from the time I was 16 until I moved out in 1998. Saw Miles at Shelley's Mannhole with only 50 people in the audience. Used to follow Chick Correa with Dave Holland at every small club gig they did for years. Great place and time to grow up...
@@Bigfish105 This is fantastic, working closed to such a legend like Don Ellis and playing with these great musicians! Did you record some stuff, some jams? Are you still playing in bands? I had a great chance as a big Frank Zappa fan playing and recording with one of the Mothers Of Invention drummers, with Jimmy Carl Black at the end of the 90's. He was living near Stuttgart. We did some great shows together around Germany. Those days I played sometimes Timpani and Vibraphone and also kit when Jimmy was singing.
@@steffenmoddrow5196 I have no recordings of any of it but lots of wild stories. The tuba player told me the.band was the halftime show at the superbowl months before I started there. Said the whole band was on acid for the show!
@@Bigfish105 Oh my gosh! That sounds really crazy. Hopefully they did a great job also on acid! On the other hand, those days there was a crazy freedom, which unfortunately doesn't exist anymore. Thanks for sharing!