Don Ellis is an elusive musician. Trumpeter and percussionist, the latter is known for his work with visionary composers such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and George Russell. Proponent of the third stream, a movement straddling the borders of jazz and scholarly music, the American performer, composer and conductor is summed up here in a meaningful manner. Various post-war protagonists are questioned or taken up. This is particularly the case of the immense Leonard Bernstein, and even the founder Gunther Schuller. Illustrated by numerous archival images, the career of Don Ellis is recounted, naturally, through the trumpet, whose moving playing permeates this film.
The various festivals of the 60s are not forgotten. After a remarkable performance in 1966 in Monterey, the trumpeter distinguishes himself in Concord where we discover him in contact with a Bulgarian ensemble, eons before the vogue of the Balkan tarafs. If this approach sounds coherent (after all the man also led a sextet of Hindustani obedience), it is the cinema that rests in our memory with The French Connection, William Friedkin's punchy film for which Don Ellis recorded a remarkable soundtrack.
Vincent Caffiaux