(1965). In November 1967, Ellis's first symphony, "Contrasts for Two Orchestras and Trumpet", was debuted by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. The Hindustani Jazz Sextet Returning to the West Coast, Ellis formed The Hindustani Jazz Sextet, which explored some of the concepts he had learned at UCLA. The Sextet is generally considered to be the first band of its kind in America. The Sextet centered on Ellis and his mentor Harihar Rao, who played sitar and tabla, but also featured vibraphonist Emil Richards, drummer Steve Bohannon, bassists Chuck Domanico and Ray Neapolitan, and pianist Dave Mackay. At least one performance also featured saxophonist Gabe Baltazar. The band performed mainly original compositions which had titles like "Sweet Nineteen", "Turks Works", and "Bombay Bossa Nova". The Sextet became somewhat well-known around Los Angeles, despite having no recordings commercially available. Perhaps the greatest exposure the group had was "Synthesis", a composition by Ellis in which the Sextet performed alongside Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra. The concert took place in February 1966 at the Los Angeles Music Center. On July 14 of that year, the Sextet performed at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium, opening for the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company. This is the last known activity of the Sextet, until 1971, when the group (with Milcho Leviev, Ralph Humphrey and Dennis Parker forming the rhythm section) played several gigs at Donte's in North Hollywood. But Ellis's side project, a workshop orchestra, had been working on different material for two years by this time. "Live" at Monterey! In addition to working with the Hindustani Jazz Sextet, Ellis continued writing arrangements for and rehearsing what would grow into the Don Ellis Orchestra. This rehearsal/workshop band played every Monday night for almost a year, first at a venue called Club Havana and later relocating to a club called Bonesville in Hollywood, where they began to gain a significant following. The group started making money by charging a small admission fee to the rehearsals, and began a letter-writing campaign to get the band a spot at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival. The campaign eventually succeeded, and the band was scheduled to perform that September. The Don Ellis Orchestra was different from most other big bands in several ways; most obviously in its instrumentation (discussed below), but also in Ellis's incorporation of Indian musical elements into modern big-band writing. Drawing from his compositional