Opened by Dean Granros, Jazz Composer and Guitarist from Minnesota.

Reviewer Marshall Fine called this “one of the brassiest, most exciting concerts Minneapolis has seen in a long time.” The gig happened because the group Mountain was supposed to perform on October 31, 1970, at the Minneapolis Auditorium, with Ellis as warmup. Leslie West of Mountain fell ill and couldn’t perform, so that concert was cancelled and Ellis was booked into the Depot. Fine described the group as a “killer band, specializing in polyrythmic swing.” Ellis, “a grinning madman,” played the trumpet and directed the band “with the savagery of a samurai warrior and with the abandon of a man completely married to his work.” Clarinetist Sam Falzone played something called “The Bulgarian Bulge” in 33-16 time. “I mean, nobody plays that fast,” mused Fine. Ellis used something called the Condor, a device that could change the tone and timbre of his trumpet and hook into a tape loop, which allowed Ellis to play a duet with himself. Will Shapira reviewed the show for the Insider, and called it “one of the most exciting evenings of music we’ve laid on our heads lately.” For the most part the band performed its new album, “Don Ellis at the Fillmore,” and he “tore the roof off the Depot and completely knocked out the audience.” Compared to the live audience on the LP, Shapira opined that the Depot’s crowd was more visceral and “they let it all hang down.” Ellis and band made an appearance on Bill Carlson’s show “This Must be the Place,” airing on Channel 4 – apparently on December 25, if I’m reading Will Jones’s column of December 27, 1970, correctly. Jones rued that he had missed the live performance at the Depot, and noted that the band had four drummers.