[Dixielandjazz] Guitarist Herb Ellis dies

[Norman Vickers]

To:  Musicians list and DJML

From:  Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

Here's a link to Doug Ramsey's Rifftides blog in Arts Journal.  It has a
nice video of Herb Ellis performing with Oscar Peterson and bassist Ray
Brown.

 

Herb would grunt (off-key, of course) when he'd do a complicated guitar
solo.  One can see that ( but the microphone didn't pick it up on this
video).  Brown was also singing along with his own bass solo.  Not rare
among musicians but the several times I saw Brown and Herb Ellis at the
Gibson parties, Herb always did it, but I didn't always see Ray Brown do it.

 

Those familiar with Herb's career knew that he and Joe Pass once did a
duo-guitar tour.  Herb had a tendency to have a few drinks and then berate
members of the audience of inattention, talking or other perceived
infractions.  Once, seeing Pass on a solo gig, he was asked about his tour
with Herb Ellis.  He replied, " Yes, I had to take the microphone away from
him."  First time I ever saw Herb perform was in a nightclub in Atlanta.
Herb was berating a member of the audience-at length and  in extremis-for
some behavior failing to meet Ellis' standards.

 

In the mid-80s the Jazz Society of Pensacola was lucky enough to get Herb
for a Sunday afternoon performance.  Another guitarist named Ellis, ( no
relation) Lloyd Ellis, performed with him.  Lloyd Ellis, a Pensacola native,
had performed in Las Vegas with Red Norvo and before retiring to his native
Pensacola, had worked fourteen years with Pete Fountain in New Orleans.  The
two Ellises had crossed paths but had never performed together. The event
was magnificent.  Local rhythm section completed the ensemble.

 

 

Herb
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2010/
03/herb_ellis_1921-2010.html&ct=ga&cad=7:2:0&cd=1BywJwyu-aE&usg=AFQjCNFppVpl
u8TwFa9X0VE6t-t8zfe4Cw>  Ellis, 1921-2010 - Rifftides
By Rifftides 
an ARTSJOURNAL weblog | ArtsJournal Home | AJ Blog Central . Rifftides. Doug
Ramsey on Jazz and other matters... Herb Ellis, 1921-2010. Herb Ellis died
last night at home in Los Angeles. He was 88 years old and had Alzheimer's
disease. ...
 <http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/> Rifftides -
http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/

 

 
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