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Newport Jazz Festival

John Ellis And Double-Wide Live From Newport

Saxophonist John Ellis (center) performs with Matt Perrine (left) on sousaphone at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.
Erik Jacobs for NPR

Saxophonist John Ellis (center) performs with Matt Perrine (left) on sousaphone at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.

John Ellis Double-Wide, Live In Concert: Newport Jazz 2012

August 4, 2012 A commanding tenor saxophonist with a gorgeous, carmelized tone, Ellis is now a leading player on the New York scene. But his band shows that while you can take the boy out of New Orleans, you can't take New Orleans out of his musical vision.

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

The tenor saxophonist John Ellis is a commanding instrumentalist with a most gorgeous, carmelized tone. And though he now lives in New York, his band gives away the fact that he learned an awful lot in New Orleans. A chunk of Double-Wide lives there — notably, Matt Perrine (sousaphone) and Jason Marsalis (drums) — and the Crescent City's carnivalesque and high-stepping timbres are refracted through Ellis' tunes. You can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of his musical vision.

Set List
  • "Okra & Tomatoes" (Ellis)
  • "Zydeco Clowns on the Lam" (Ellis)
  • "Dewey Dah" (Ellis)
  • "3-Legged Tango in Jackson Square" (Ellis)
  • "Dubinland Carnival" (Ellis)
  • "This Too Shall Pass" (Ellis)
  • "Break Tune" (Ellis)
Personnel
  • John Ellis, tenor saxophone
  • Gary Versace, organ/accordion
  • Matt Perrine, sousaphone
  • Jason Marsalis, drums
  • Alan Ferber, trombone

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About The Festival

The Newport Jazz Festival, was founded by jazz pianist George Wein in 1954 as the first outdoor music festival of its kind devoted entirely to jazz, and is now universally acknowledged as the grandfather of all jazz festivals. For information on attending this year's Festival, visit their official website.

Credits

NPR Music's coverage of the Newport Jazz Festival is supported by the Argus Fund.

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