Joy Ellis: Peaceful Place

Habitually a singer, Ellis plays only piano in this dreamlike, restful yet intense trio set of original material

1374

A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, pianist Joy Ellis is based in London and plays at leading venues, including Ronnie Scott’s and the Jazz Café. Among her overseas engagements have been appearances at the Cork Jazz Festival and at the No Black Tie Jazz Club in Kuala Lumpur.

Usually, Ellis also sings, as she did on Life On Land and Dwell, but on this, her third album, she chose not to do so. Reflecting on international events in the months preceding recording, Ellis observes: “Moving through the pandemic I felt there were no words I could sing to capture the grief and sense of loss that I and other people I know had experienced. Therefore I decided to compose an album with no vocals at all using my other instrument and first love, the piano.”

Ellis is classically trained. There is about her playing a deceptive simplicity, which not only reflects classical composers such as Erik Satie, but also the post-Lester Young school of jazz thought that decrees less is more. All seven compositions are Ellis’s and throughout there is a dreamlike quality, restful yet intense, and always memorable.

Ellis is cushioned by her collaborators, bassist Henrik Jensen and drummer Adam Osmianski, the former having several solos, and Osmianski, too, has his moments, as on Day Of Rest. It is, though, Ellis and her extended solos, gracefully flowing and imaginative, that capture and hold the attention.

Contemporary jazz piano playing of studied elegance and constantly absorbing interest, this will be appreciated by many. The release of the album is supported by the Help Musicians Do It Differently Fund.

Discography
My Peaceful Place; Day Of Rest; Eat, Sleep, Repeat; Losing; Silver Linings; Cascade; Begin Again (39.10)
Ellis (p); Henrik Jensen (b); Adam Osmianski (d). Swindon, Wiltshire, May 2021.
Oti-O Records 007