Lisle Ellis, bass & circuitry

Visit Lisle Ellis's website.

Ellis pioneered the development of improvised and experimental music in his native Canada. In Vancouver and Montreal in the 1980's, Ellis was a conspicuous activator of musician alliance organizations, performance venues and concert series presentations. One collective, Vancouver's New Orchestra Workshop, is active thirty years later.

After relocating to the US, Ellis's music began to attract acclaim on a global level. His recording, Kaleidoscopes: The Ornette Coleman Songbook (Hat Art), with pianist Paul Plimley, was given five stars in Downbeat Magazine and has been hailed a modern masterpiece. He won Canada's Frederick Stone Award in 1986. His most recent CD, Sucker Punch Requiem, including musicians Oliver Lake, George Lewis and Susie Ibarra, was named one of the best CDs of 2008 by The All-Music Guide.

Ellis has created a unique structure for use in compositions for improviser he calls "Formings." All the compositions created for Rovaté 2009 will employ this form as the exoskeleton of the piece.