Ellis's final album for Columbia, "Connection", was recorded in August 1972. The album featured "The Theme from 'The French Connection'", an abbreviated version of Ellis's movie score, and "Chain Reaction", a 13/8 tour de force by longtime contributor Hank Levy. Alongside these highlights are arrangements of several pop songs by artists such as Carole King, Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Carpenters. The arrangements were generally tongue-in-cheek; they were often in different meters to the original, or arranged with the melody played in a humorous way (there is no singer on the album).