Pee Wee Russell
Clarinetist Pee Wee Russell is one of those unique players that comes along only once in a lifetime, squawking his way quite expressively in an unpredictable fashion, carving out his own distinctive voice.
Pee Wee was born Charles Ellsworth Russell in St. Louis and began playing clarinet in Muskogee Oklahoma which is famous for giving the jazz world pianist Jay McShann. Pee Wee's career in jazz began in the early 1920's in Chicago with Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer, cutting his first sides with Red Nichols and his Five Pennies in 1929. The band also featured Glenn Miller and Jack Teagarden on trombones, Bud Freeman on tenor sax and Eddie Condon on guitar.
By the early 1930's, Pee Wee moved to New York where he found a steady home in the bands of Eddie Condon and jamming with a roster of hot jazz players including Bobby Hackett, Red Allen, Edmond Hall, Hot Lips Page, Jack Bland, Buster Bailey and Vic Dickenson. Pee Wee played in the all-star band put together by Eddie Condon for Fats Waller's Carnegie Hall debut in 1942, which also included Bud Freeman and Gene Krupa. Throughout most of the 1940's Pee Wee could be found playing at Nick's, the popular Greenwich Village restaurant/club that was a mainstay for hot musicians as the swing era evolved into bop. During this period Pee Wee was recording sides for Milt Gabler's Commodore label under his own name and as a sideman.
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Album Review
- Portrait Of Pee Wee by David Rickert
- Ask Me Now! by Joel Roberts
- Ask Me Now by David Rickert
- Swingin' With Pee Wee by Mike Neely
- Swingin' with Pee Wee by AAJ Staff
- Swingin' with Pee Wee by AAJ Staff
February 07, 2008
Pee Wee Russell Memorial Stomp
January 27, 2007
Pee Wee Russell Memorial Stomp March 4 in Whippany, New Jersey
February 03, 2006
Pee Wee Russell Memorial Stomp Sunday, March 5 in Whippany, NJ
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