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 of playing out of tune. In 1926 he joined Jean Goldkette’s band, and the following year he left for New York City to join Red Nichols. While with Nichols’s band, Russell did frequent freelance recording studio work, on clarinet, soprano, alto and tenor sax, and bass clarinet. He worked with various bandleaders (including Louis Prima) before beginning a series of residences at the famous jazz club “Nick’s” in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in 1937. He played with Bobby Hackett’s big band, and began playing with Eddie Condon, with whom he would continue to work, off and on, for much of the rest of his life — though he complained, “Those guys [at Nick’s and Condon’s] made a joke, of me, a clown, and I let myself be treated that way because I was afraid. I didn’t know where else to go, where to take refuge”. From the 1940s on, Russell’s health was often poor, exacerbated by alcoholism — “I lived on brandy milkshakes and scrambledegg sandwiches. And on whiskey... I had to drink half a pint of whiskey in the morning before I could get out of bed” — which led to a major medical breakdown in 1951, and he had periods when he could not play. Some people considered that his style was different after his breakdown: Larkin characterized it as “a hollow feathery tone framing phrases of an almost Chinese introspection with a tendency to inconclusive garrulity that would have been unheard of in the days when Pee Wee could pack more into a middle eight than any other thirties pick-up player”...
Source : http://www.njjs.org/files/2017/4503%20web%20archive%20files/4503_JerseyJazzFullIssue.pdf
The Individualism of
Pee Wee Russell
(Pee Wee Russell & Ruby Braff At Storyville, vol. 1 & 2)
Tracks
1 Love is Just Around The Corner (Robin, Rainger) 4:55
2 Squeeze Me (Williams, Waller) 4:15
3 Ballin' The 4 Bar Break (Smith, Borris) 2:50
4 I'd Do Most Anything For You (Friend, Pollack) 4:05
5 California, Here I Come (Jolson, De Sylva, Meyer) 3:05
6 St. James' Infirmary (Primrose) 4:30
7 Baby, Won't You Please Come Home (Warfield, Williams) 3:50
8 The Lady's in Love With You (Lane, Loesser) 3:35
9 Struttin' With Some Barbecue (Armstrong) 4:00
10 St. Louis Blues (Handy) 3:50
11 Sweet Lorraine (Burwell, M. Parish) 6:00
12 Sentimental Journey (Homer, Green, Brown) 8:03
13 If I Had You (Campbell, Connelly, Shapiro) 7:00
14 Coquette (Lombardo, Kahn, Green) 5:20
15 The Lady is A Tramp (Rodgers, Hart) 4:30
*
Personnel
Ruby Braff - tp
Ephy Resnick - tb
Pee Wee Russell - cl
Red Richards - p
John Field - b
Kenny John - dr
Recorded at Storyville, Boston, Massachusetts ; January 27, 1952