Pee Wee Ellis - Bremen 2004

More funky sounds, this time by Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, longtime member of the JB's, frequent collaborator of Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, Ellis also played and arranged for as various musicians as Van Morrison, Omar Sosa, Oumou Sangare, Cheikh Lo, Miguel 'Anga' Diaz and Cachaito Lopez. He played on Ali Farka Toure's final album Savane and has more recently appeared with Farka's son, Vieux Farka Toure as well.

On this fine recording from Germany, Ellis is joined by a German band providing fine backings for his brand of smooth funk. It seems they played in Bremen from September 20-24 that year, and Minor Music released a selection from these dates on one of their Pee Wee discs. I haven't made any comparisons, but what you get here is a full night (or at least much of it), just as the music was performed!

And this includes what's likely the s-l-o-w-e-s-t version of "I Feel Good"! And so you will, after playing this music!



Pee Wee Ellis & Band
Bremen (Germany), Grosser Sendesaal, Radio Bremen
September 23, 2004

Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis – tenor saxophone
Joo Kraus – trumpet
Joe Gallardo – trombone
Ralf Schmidt – keyboard, electric piano
Martin Scales - guitar
Christian Diener – bass
Torsten Krill – drums

Disc 1/59:58
1. Jive Samba (14:28)
2. Ham (12:23)
3. My Neighbourhood (9:35)
4. The Everywhere Calypso (4:09)
5. Blue Bell Pepper (7:33)
6. Riff 39 A (4:52)
7. I Heard It Through The Grapevine (6:54)

Disc 2/48:08
1. Different Rooms (10:35)
2. You Haven´t Done Nothing (5:10)
3. All Four Seasons (5:45)
4. On A Slow Boat To China (6:32)
5. Chicken Soup (9:17)
6. Cherry Red (5:48)
7. I Feel Good (4:44)

Sound: A
Lineage: FM broadcast > ? > cdr > eac > wave > flac frontend
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