A1 	Johnny Come Lately	4:51
A2 	Slow Space 	4:30
A3 	Ostinato 	7:00
A4 	Donkey	4:34
B1 	Form 	5:30
B2 	Angel Eyes	5:00
B3 	Irony 	4:18
B4 	Lover	3:22

Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Gene Stone, Nick Martinis
Piano – Paul Bley
Trumpet – Don Ellis

The rarest of all Don Ellis sessions, Essence matches the trumpeter with pianist Paul Bley, bassist Gary Peacock, and either Nick Martinis or Gene Stone on drums. Ellis, who sought during this period to transfer ideas and concepts from modern classical music into adventurous jazz, often experimented with time, tempos and the use of space while still swinging. His renditions of Billy Strayhorn's "Johnny Come Lately," "Angel Eyes" and "Lover" are quite fresh, he contributes four interesting originals and introduces Carla Bley's "Wrong Key Donkey" (here simply called "Donkey"). This is thought-provoking music that was certainly way overdue to be reissued. ---Scott Yanow, AllMusic Review

A very interesting character, trumpeter and bandleader Don Ellis is probably best known for the big bands he led in the late '60s, which served as a vehicle for his experiments with electronics and unusual time signatures. Albums such as Electric Bath and Live in 3 2/3/4 Time are brimming with the excitement of an era that was filled with rebellion and a quest for individuality. In his own way then, Ellis brought a new outlook to the big band mold that was way beyond the traditional swing style of earlier prototypes.

Much less is acknowledged or discussed in regards to Ellis as a trumpeter in the years before his big band. Part of this is due to the fact that his early work has been hard to obtain or poorly distributed, save for the 1961 Prestige session New Ideas. Following that album and the two Candid sets that precede it would be 1962's Essence, the rarest of the rare in Ellis' oeuvre. Recorded by Dick Bock for his Pacific Jazz imprint, Essence is just now seeing its first reissue as one of just two releases from Mighty Quinn Productions, a new independent label specializing in rarified objets d'art.

Essence is a startling album not only in execution but also in the more perfect insight it gives us into Ellis' developing individuality. The album opens with an up-tempo romp through "Johnny Come Lately and ends with any equally brisk run through "Lover. In between are several free-form explorations that often dispense with timekeeping of a traditional nature. Pianist Paul Bley is in excellent form as he counters Ellis' sweeping statements with his own dense and chordal assertions. On "Irony we even find drummer Gene Stone adding color and texture by dropping coins in a glass (at least that's what I think he's doing). This is heady and experimental stuff, chock full of the sound of surprise, and Ellis and crew are up to the challenge.

Not the typical kind of West Coast stuff that Dick Bock usually cut, Essence is not that much unlike New Ideas (another fine set to check out); it's also vital for the early exposure it gave to Bley and bassist Gary Peacock. Superb sound remastering and a faithful reproduction of the original cover help to make this a precious reissue that Ellis fans will surely want to check out. ---C. Andrew Hovan, allaboutjazz.com

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1.    Some Place Else
2.    Lover
3.    What Is This Things Called Love
4.    Now’s The Time
5.    Soloes
6.    Nihil Novi

Musicians:
Don Ellis - trumpet
Wojciech Karolak - piano
Roman Dylag - bass
Andrzej Dabrowski – drums

This is the second installment in the new series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings. Radio recordings are always a fabulous source of remarkable material, and as far as Polish Jazz history is concerned, the Polish Radio, which was a state monopoly for 45 years, recorded over time a plethora of invaluable material, which apart from the albums released by the Polskie Nagrania record company (also a state monopoly), is the only additional source of Polish Jazz recordings. For many years Polish Radio recorded concerts presented during Poland's most important Jazz venue, the annual Jazz Jamboree Festival and many other festivals as well.

The material presented here was recorded in 1962 during the 5th Jazz Jamboree and features American trumpeter Don Ellis, accompanied by a Polish rhythm section consisting of pianist Wojciech Karolak, bassist Roman Dylag and drummer Andrzej Dabrowski. All the six tracks were recorded live during the Festival, the last of which is an extended suite composed by Polish pianist / composer Andrzej Trzaskowski presented as part of a concert dedicated to the Third Stream (early Jazz-Classical Fusion initiated by American composer Gunther Schuller in the late 1950s). On that track the quartet is accompanied by the Polish National Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Of the five shorter Jazz pieces, two are original compositions by Ellis and the remaining three are standards.

Ellis was the second US musician who opted to play with a local rhythm section, following Stan Getz who did so two years earlier (as captured on the first volume of this series). Although he was just 28 years old at the time, he already had a lot of experience and quite a reputation as a result of playing with many top American Jazz acts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His Polish partners: Karolak (aged 23), Dylag (aged 24) and Dabrowski (aged 24) sound like veterans, obviously ready and able for the occasion. Ellis was the ideal choice as a performer of the orchestral piece by Trzaskowski, as he was one of the musicians / composers involved in this genre from its early stage.

There is a clear division between the first part of this album, which includes the five Jazz pieces and the orchestral suite, which is quite avant-garde and geared more towards Classical music listeners. Both parts are excellent, each presenting different merits of course. The fact that Trzaskowski composed the orchestral suite at that time is quite astonishing, considering the limited information about contemporary musical trends and developments that managed to cross over from behind the iron curtain. Obviously he was a man of great vision beyond his obvious talents as a player and composer.

The wonderful ambience of the hall and the remastered sound quality are spectacular, worm and natural, leaving many contemporary recordings way behind, even though they were done 51 years ago using quite primitive equipment.

The only note of criticism about this new edition is the lack of a proper booklet with proper liner notes, photographs and other well deserved details, which this monumental music truly deserves. Polish Radio really should have made an effort there. A pity!

In retrospect this is a great document of the era and an integral part of the Polish Jazz saga, which deserves to be told and studied. The presence of the orchestral suite makes this an absolute must for collectors of Polish Jazz albums and Third Stream followers. --- Adam Baruch, polish-jazz.blogspot.com

To druga płyta z nowej serii Polskiego Radia zatytułowanej Polish Radio Jazz Archives, zawiera nagrania dokonane w sali Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie podczas 5 Międzynarodowego Festiwalu Muzyki Jazzowej Jazz Jamboree 1962.Don Ellis to kolejna gwiazda jazzu, która gościła w Warszawie podczas festiwalu jazzowego. Pierwszym był kwartet Brubecka, potem Stan Getz i wreszcie wirtuoz trąbki Don Ellis.Na płycie znalazło się 5 nagrań, pochodzących z Archiwum Polskiego Radia.

Amerykańskiemu trębaczowi towarzyszy trio Wojciecha Karolaka, w którym na basie i perkusji grają Roman Dyląg i Andrzej Dąbrowski.Szóstym utworem zamieszczonym na płycie jest kompozycja Andrzeja Trzaskowskiego, w której udział bierze również Orkiestra Kameralna Filharmonii Narodowej pod dyrekcją Andrzeja Markowskiego. Ten koncert pod nazwą III Nurt został zarejestrowany w Filharmonii Narodowej dwa dni po Festiwalu Jazz Jamboree, czyli 29 października 1962 roku. --- merlin.pl

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