Electric Heart Don Ellis is the incredible story of the Man, his Times and the Music of Donald Johnson Ellis 1934-1978. Completely forgotten about in Jazz, Ellis created a "Fusion" between Jazz, Classical and Rock long before anyone else thought of it. His Electric Orchestras still maintain the most complex modern day music ever written, then and now! Pulitzer Winning Composer Gunther Schuller discovered Don Ellis at Boston University in the 1960's and introduced him to Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein hires Ellis as a Soloist for a National Television Show (The Young Peoples Concert) and Ellis was off and running. Known for his strange and odd-metered arrangements, Ellis took Jazz to new heights and never looked back. He was under-Produced and mis-Marketed and even though he was one of Jazz's most exciting acts ever, his music has been completely forgotten about and seldom played on the radio and his music generally speaking is hard to come by. He is truly one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century and as the late Jazz Legend Maynard Ferguson states in the film; "He was really something magical! Electric Heart gets to the bottom of why Ellis was and is left out of the mix and explains his life story as a re-discovery of his music with testimonials from some of the all time greats of the Jazz World. Let us never forget Don Ellis.
Director:John Vizzusi
Writer: John Vizzusi, John Killoch
Release date: 2007
Duration:73 minutes
Genre: Documentary
