John Ellis & Double Wide
"Dance Like There's No Tomorrow"
Format: Jazz
HYN 9365
Tracks:
- All Up In The Aisles
- Trash Bash
- Dream And Mosh
- I Miss You Molly
- Three-Legged Tango In Jackson Square
- Tattooed Teen Waltzes With Grandma
- Zydeco Clowns On The Lam
- Prom Song
- Dance Like There's No Tomorrow
Featuring JOHN ELLIS, MATT PERRINE, GARY VERSACE and JASON MARSALIS
It's been said that music is the universal language. With that in mind, the New York City-based saxophonist John Ellis was inspired to write an album based around the universal reaction to that language--dancing. His fourth recording as a leader, Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow, is a joyous affair, harnessing music's power to light a better way in the face of uncertain times. Here, Ellis debuts a band he calls Double Wide, featuring Matt Perrine on tuba, Gary Versace on organ and Jason Marsalis on drums. The album draws its spirit from the South where Ellis was raised, and in particular, his former stomping ground, New Orleans. There’s the gospel-inflected “All Up In The Aisles” that brings the congregation to their feet, the gypsy images conjured by “Three-Legged Tango In Jackson Square” and the Crescent City’s commitment to celebrating life evoked by the title track. Ellis’ proclivity for pastoral, inward-looking melodies is also well-represented on compositions like “Tattoed Teen Waltzes with Grandma” and “Dream and Mosh.” Ellis surmises the heart of this landmark recording: “During Hurricane Katrina and in its aftermath, there were bars on Bourbon Street that never closed. And, of course, it wasn't ‘too soon’ to celebrate Mardi Gras the following February. New Orleans has always known how to live for the day, and how to dance like there's no tomorrow.”