Pee Wee Russell

Jazz clarinet player, born in Maple Wood, Missouri, USA. He travelled the American Midwest with bands from age 16. In 1925, he worked in St Louis with Frankie Trumbauer (1901–56) and Bix Beiderbecke, and thereafter was associated with their coterie of Chicago-based Dixielanders. As part of the entrepreneurial troupe of Eddie Condon (1905–73) for nearly two decades, he played frequently at Nick's famous Dixieland bar in Greenwich Village, in concerts at Carnegie Hall, and on network radio broadcasts. He played the clarinet in short staccato bursts and was perilously spontaneous, winding around in his solos like a maze. In the 1960s, when jazz was freeing its forms and exploring new modalities, he was discovered by a younger audience. He played with Thelonious Monk at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1963, fronted a pianoless quartet, and recorded with a large orchestra (The Spirit of ’67 in 1967). Coleman Hawkins, his colleague for more than 40 years, said, ‘He's always been way out, but they didn't have a name for it then’.

Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, (27 March 1906 - 15 February 1969) was a jazz musician.

Russell was born in Maplewood, Missouri and grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While he had ambitions to play music before, the event made Pee Wee decide that his primary instrument would be the clarinet and the type of music he would play would be jazz.

His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1920, then Pee Wee was enrolled in the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois. On the side he played clarinet with various dance and jazz bands.

From his earliest career, Russell's style was distinctive. The notes he played were somewhat unorthodox when compared to his contemporaries, and he was sometimes accused to playing out-of-tune.

He played with Bobby Hackett's big band and began playing with Eddie Condon, who he would continue working regularly for most of the rest of his life.

From the 1940s on, Russell's health was often poor, exacerbated by alcoholism - which led to a major medical breakdown in 1951 - and he had periods when he could not play.

He played with Art Hodes, Muggsy Spanier and occasionally bands under his own name in addition to Condon.

In his last decade, Russell often played at jazz festivals and international tours organized by George Wein, including an appearance with Thelonious Monk at the Newport Festival in 1963, a meeting which has a mixed reputation (currently available as part of the Monk 2CD set Live at Newport 1963-65).

Russell's unique, and sometimes derided approach was praised as ahead of its time, and cited by some as an early example of free jazz. Coleman Hawkins, who considered Russell to be color-blind, at the time of the 1961 Jazz Reunion (Candid) record date - they had originally recorded together in 1929 - dismissed any idea that Russell was now playing modern, saying that he had always played that way.

By this time, encouraged by Mary, his wife, Russell had taken up painting abstract art as a hobby.

The greatly imaginative improvisations of Russell when at his best remain an inspiration to later jazz clarinetists.