Pee Wee Russell, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 1969)
Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet.
With a highly individualistic and spontaneous clarinet style that "defied classification", Russell began his career playing Dixieland jazz, but throughout his career incorporated elements of newer developments such as swing, bebop and free jazz. Writing in 1961, the poet Philip Larkin commented: "No one familiar with the characteristic excitement of his solos, their lurid, snuffling, asthmatic voicelessness, notes leant on till they split, and sudden passionate intensities, could deny the uniqueness of his contribution to jazz."
1906Mar, 27
Pee Wee Russell
Choose Another Date
Events on 1906
- 8Apr
Alzheimer's disease
Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies. - 7Jun
RMS Lusitania
Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland. - 18Sep
Tsunami
A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong. - 20Sep
RMS Mauretania (1906)
Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. - 9Nov
Panama Canal
Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.