REMEMBERING ELLIS LARKINS
By Len Dobbin

November 11, 2002

Pianist ELLIS LARKINS, a favourite accompanist of singers and musicians who "sang" on their horns, died on Sunday, September 29th at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore at the age of 79, the cause was pneumonia. He was born Ellis Lane Larkins in Baltimore on May 15, 1923 - his dad, John Wesley Larkins, was a violinist in the City Colored Orchestra, his mother, Clara Emily Larkins, played piano. Ellis began piano lessons at the age of four and was considered a prodigy. In 1935, at a concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the National Urban League, Ellis played for Eleanor Roosevelt. He studied at the Peabody Institute and then, in 1940, on a scholarship, went on to Juilliard in New York City. This was quite a feat for a black American in those days. He made his professional debut the same year working at Café Society Uptown with the Billy Moore Four.

In the early 90s I worked in a record store and, when asked by a customer which Ella Fitzgerald CD they should purchase, I would always point them to "Pure Ella" on Decca, the best and least expensive of her CDs in the store - eight tracks from September 1950 and a dozen from March 1954 - mostly Gershwin - just Ella and Ellis. Whitney Balliett relates that it is used in music schools as an example of how to sing a ballad. If you only own one CD featuring Ellis, this is the one. If you have a larger budget, "A Smooth One" on the European Black & Blue label with George Duvivier and J.C. Heard from 1977, a session that includes a superb rendering of Benny Carter's "Blues In My Heart", the 1992 Concord CD recorded live at Maybeck and two sessions from December 1943 sessions by Coleman Hawkins and by Lester Young, sessions produced by a young Bob Thiele should also be on your list. The latter two sessions turn up on "The Big Three" released on a number of labels, my copy is on Zillion. "Lover Come Back To Me" and "Blues Changes" from December 18th are the Hawkins titles (with Jimmy Shirley, Oscar Pettiford and Max Roach) while the December 21st Lester Young titles, "I Got Rhythm", "I'm Fer It Too" and "Hello Babe" have the bonus of some great Dicky Wells. Bill Coleman, Freddie Green, Al Hall and [Papa] Jo Jones are the others here. Any of the many fine duo sides he made with Ruby Braff would also be welcome additions to any collection.

Before resettling in Baltimore in 1988, after a spell in L.A., Larkins was heard in all the major NYC clubs, Café Society Uptown, the Blue Angel, Gregory's, Michael's Pub, The Cookery and the Carnegie Tavern among them. Among the many singers he accompanied there were two who were born in Montreal, Anita Ellis and Arlene Smith. He was married to the latter and that union produced a son, Ellis Jr., who died along with Arlene's second husband in a motorcycle accident. A song Ellis wrote and dedicated to Arlene can be found on one of his early Decca recordings. Sessions with Maxine Sullivan, Bea Wain and Mildred Bailey are available on the Toronto-based Baldwin Street label. Ellis also recorded with Bailey for the Majestic label around 1946 and in 1940 they did some recording for V Discs. Other singers who had the luck of working with Larkins include Jane Harvey, Thelma Carpenter, Aretha Franklin, Eartha Kitt, Harry Belafonte, Joe Williams, Lee Wiley, Helen Humes, Josh White, Beverly Kenney, Julie Wilson, Chris Connor and Rod McKuen. He's also recorded with instrumentalists like Edmund Hall, J.C. Higginbotham, Sonny Stitt, Louis Armstrong, Bill Coleman, Ben Webster and Lucky Millinder. If your collection contains anthologies on the Classics label, Ellis can be found on the following: Edmund Hall 1944-1945; Coleman Hawkins 1943-1944; Lucky Millinder 1943-1947 and Dicky Wells 1927 - 1943. He's also on a Bill Coleman collection on the Topaz label.

In 1974 Ellis did a South American tour with Marian McPartland, Earl Hines and Teddy Wilson and material from that tour can be found on "Concert in Argentina" on Jazz Alliance. In 1959 Larkins did a tour with Larry Adler. He also appeared on TV with Art Linkletter, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas and there are many articles to be read including one in Balliett's 1983 "Jelly Roll, Jabbo and Fats". In a 1973 piece titled "Beautiful" contained in Balliett's "Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz 1954-2000" [St. Martin's Press], Whitney describes him as, "the shy, brilliant, semi-transparent pianist" and goes on to speak of a series of recordings, seven in all, mostly solo, but some with bassist Al Hall and trumpeter Joe Thomas, produced by Ernie Anderson, who Whitney quotes as saying, "I'm doing this project simply because I want to register some of the great neglected players before it's too late". "Who Can I Turn To?", "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" by Mercer Ellington, "Rose Room", "Sweet Sue", Ben Homer's "Sentimental Journey"," It's The Talk of The Town" and "Blue Moon" [the latter pair with Hall and Thomas] were among the pieces recorded. Alas, Anderson died and this material was never released.

If you live in the Baltimore area, the funeral takes place at St. James Episcopal Church, Lafayette and Arlington, at 11 a.m. on October 8th. Ellis is survived by his wife, the former Crystal Brown, a niece and nephew, and several great-nieces and great-nephews. Ellis was one of a kind - if you're not familiar with his work, seek out his CDs [especially "Pure Ella"] and be enchanted.

Dobbin's Den Sundays from 11am to 1pm, CKUT, 90.3 fm / www.ckut.ca