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| Jeremy Ellis "Lotus Blooms" available February 22, 2005 Following the hotly collected 12” “Lotus Blooms / Bombakiss” teaser released earlier this year, live performances around the country, and an appearance on Roy Davis Jr's “Chicago Forever,” Jeremy Ellis (aka Ayro) delivers the 17 track long-player Lotus Blooms, an album of insatiable future funk. The Detroit Experiment keyboardist/vocalist balances jazz licks with Detroit bounce, future beats and classic soul on Ubiquity's first full-length artist album of the new year! Detroit-based Jeremy Ellis moved to Puerto Rico to create an album marrying traditional Bomba and Plena rhythms with Detroit-schooled dance music. After three months, the keyboard maestro and golden-toned vocalist discovered that the living in Puerto Rico ain’t so easy. On his way home he lost two computers, all of his recordings, half of his recording advance, and his passport (and possibly part of his mind). Fortunately, Ellis returned in one piece with the musical knowledge and resolve to create The Lotus Blooms, an album of insatiable future funk grounded in Detroit and peppered with a Puerto-Rican persuasion. From his retake on the traditional Puerto Rican song “Cortano A Elena” to the broken beat driven song “These Passing Days” the Puerto Rican influences vary in strength. Heavy Latin vibes can be found in “Bombakiss” and the montuno of the opening track “Take Your Time” (check also the harder remixed version which can be found as bonus cut #17). There is also plenty of room for more Detroit-styled outings. His near 10 minute epic “Callelunakarma” jumps from hip hop to broken to house to future jazz fusion and back to hip hop again while the track which gave birth to the album title “Lotusblooms” blurs the line between boogie-tune, house and broken beat. This is only the second album for Jeremy Ellis (his first for Ubiquity) and yet he has already appeared on albums, remixes, and tracks by Jazzanova, Roy Davis Jr, Carl Craig, John Beltran, John Arnold, Recloose and many more. Dropping down somewhere between Bugz In The Attic and Kerrier District, Jazzanova and Metro Area, Ellis balances jazz licks with Detroit bounce, future beats and classic soul. Studying classical and jazz piano, plus percussion through his youth, Ellis became well-known in the Detroit jazz and electronic music circles by playing with renowned jazz/fusion group Jazzhead (alongside current Ubiquity label mate John Arnold), touring around the world with live electronic group Time:Space, and lending his keyboard skills to legendary Detroit producers such as Carl Craig, Alton Miller, Recloose, John Beltran and others. Artists as varied as Bach and Chopin, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, the Beatles and U2, are his main influences. He’s an extremely curious musician always delving into new styles and picking up new tricks as he goes. The list of Jeremy Ellis live performances includes show at the Detroit Electronic Music festival in 2001 and 2003, playing with Jazzanova and Koop, headlining with Kyoto Jazz Massive in Tokyo, rocking all-night block parties on the streets of Puerto Rico and kicking off the Ubiquity/Puma SoundClash series in San Francisco. write your comments about the article :: © 2004 Jazz News :: home page |