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Charles Ellsworth Russell (27 March 1906 – 15 Feb 1969), was a jazz musician. He started his career playing clarinet and saxophones.

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However, he eventually specialized in clarinet. Russell was born in Maplewood in Missouri and grew to be a musician in Muskogee in Oklahoma. His father took Ellsworth to a dance by The Louisiana Five, a New Orleans jazz clarinetist Alcide Nunez.

It was Muskogee in 1919.

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Russell was astonished by Nunez’s improvisations. Pee Wee had always wanted to be a musician, but the incident made him decide that the clarinet would be his primary instrument and jazz would be his preferred music. Pee Wee’s family moved to St.

Louis in 1920. Then, he enrolled at the Western Military Academy, Alton, Illinois.

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He also played clarinet in various jazz and dance bands. In 1922, he began to tour professionally and traveled extensively with tent shows and riverboats. Russel made his recording debut in 1924 in St. Louis with Herb Berger’s Band.

He then moved to Ch