Herb Ellis

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Herb Ellis (Mitchell Herbert Ellis, Farmersville, Texas, August 4, 1921 - Los Angeles, California, March 28, 2010) was an American jazz guitarist.

Growing up on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas, Ellis first heard the electric guitar performed by George Barnes on a radio program. This experience is said to have inspired him to take up the guitar. He became proficient on the instrument by the time he entered North Texas State University as a music major. Ellis majored in music, but because they did not yet have a guitar program at that time, he studied the string bass. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, his college days were short lived. In 1941 Herb dropped out of college and toured for 6 months with a band from the University of Kansas.

In 1943 joined Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra and it was with Gray’s band that he got his first recognition in the jazz magazines. After Gray’s band, Ellis joined the Jimmy Dorsey band where he played some of his first recorded solos. Ellis remained with Dorsey through 1947, traveling and recording extensively, and playing in dance halls and movie palaces. Then came a turnabout that would change Ellis’s career forever. Then, as pianist Lou Carter told journalist Robert Dupuis in a 1996 interview, “The Dorsey band had a six-week hole in the schedule. The three of us had played together some with the big band. John Frigo, who had already left the band, knew the owner of the Peter Stuyvesant Hotel in Buffalo. We went in there and stayed six months. And that’s how the group the Soft Winds were born.”

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• An Evening with Herb Ellis
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• Nothing But The Blues
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• Ellis In Wonderland
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• Jazz Guitar Essentials '55-'59
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1		Somebody Loves Me			36
2		Royal Garden Blues			26
2		Body And Soul (Live)			26
4		Polka Dots And Moonbeams (live)			24
5		Soft Winds			23
6		Days Of Wine And Roses (live)			22
7		Patti Cake			17
7		Pap's Blues			17
9		Billie's Bounce (live)			16
10		Detour Ahead			15
11		Blues For Junior			13
12		I Love You (Live)			12
12		A Simple Tune			12
14		Ellis In Wonderland			11
14		Pogo			11

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