Volume 1:
1.Love Is Just Around The Corner (6:02)
2.Squeeze Me (4:19)
3.Ballin' The Jack (2:51)
4.I'd Do Most Anything For You (4:12)
5.California, Here I Come (3:12)
6.St. James Infirmary (4:34)
7.Baby, Won't You Please Come Home (3:59)
8.The Lady's In Love With You (3:42)
9.Struttin' With Some Barbecue (4:14)

Volume 2:
1.If I Had You (7:22)
2.Coquette (4:32)
3.The Lady Is A Tramp (4:39)
4.St. Louis Blues (4:00)
5.Sweet Lorraine (6:06)
6.Sentimental Journey (8:07)

Live At Storyville, Boston
Label: Savoy Records 12041

Pee Wee Russell - clarinet
Ruby Braff - trumpet
Ephy Resnick - trombone
Red Richards - piano
John Field - bass
Kenny John - drums

One of the great swing/Dixieland cornetists, Ruby Braff went through long periods of his career unable to find work because his music was considered out-of-fashion, but his fortunes improved by the 1970s. A very expressive player who in later years liked to build his solos up to a low note, Braff's playing was instantly recognizable within seconds.

Braff mostly worked around Boston in the late '40s. He teamed up with Pee Wee Russell when the clarinetist was making a comeback (they recorded live for Savoy), and after moving to New York in 1953, he fit easily into a variety of Dixieland and mainstream settings. --- musicxplorer.com

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1. Pee Wee’s Blues (Russell, Pierce)
2. What’s The Pitch ? (Russell)
3. Dreamin’ And Schemin’ (Russell)
4. Cutie Pie (Russell)
5. Oh No ! (Russell, Cary)
6. Pee Wee’s Song (Russell)
7. Oh Yes ! (Russell)
8. Missy (Russell)
9. Are You There (Russell)
10. Write Me A Love Song Baby (Russell)
11. This Is It (Russell)
12. But Why ? (Russell)
13. That Old Feeling (Brown, Fain)
14. I’ve Got The World On A String (Pierce, Young)
15. Exactly Like You (Burke, Fields, McHugh)
16. It All Depends On You (Brown, Clapton, DeSylva, Henderson)
17. If I Had You (Campbell, Connely)
18. Out Of Nowhere (Green, Heyman)
19. Pee Wee’s Blues (Piece, Russell)
20. I Used To Love You (Brown, Curtis, Tilzer)
21. Oh No ! (Lowery, Pierce, Russell)

Personnel
[# 1-12] originally issued as "Pee Wee Plays" (Dot DLP 3253)
Pee Wee Russell - cl
Buck Clayton - tp
Vic Dickenson - tb
Bud Freeman - ts
Dick Cary - p
Eddie Condon - g
Bill Takas - b
George Wettling - dr
Recorded in New York City ; February 23-24, 1959

[# 13-21] "Portrait of Pee Wee" (Counterpoint CPST 562)
Pee Wee Russell -cl
Ruby Braff - tp
Vic Dickenson - tb
Bud Freeman - ts
Nat Pierce - p
Charles Potter - b
Karl Kiffe - dr
Recorded in New York City ; February 18-19, 1958.

This edition presents, for the first time ever on CD, two of the best albums made by Pee Wee Russell in the late 50s. “Pee Wee Russell Plays” (1959), featuring the leader (who is also the composer of all the tunes) along with stars like Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson and Bud Freeman. As a bonus, the complete album “Portrait of Pee Wee” (1958), selected as one of 100 best jazz albums of all time, and also featuring Vic Dickenson and Bud Freeman, plus the great trumpeter Ruby Braff.

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1. Out Of Nowhere
2. Exactly Like You
3. Love Is Here To Stay
4. St James Infirmary
5. California Here I Come
6. If I Had You
7. It All Depends On You
8. The Lady Is A Tramp
9. Coquette
10. I Got The World On A String
11. That Old Feeling
12. Oh No
13. I Used To Love You
14. Pee Wee's Blues

Clarinetist Pee Wee Russell is one of those unique players that comes along only once in a lifetime. Known as much for his unique style consisting of squeaks and overtones as for the mournful expression on his face, Pee Wee was born in St. Louis and began playing clarinet in Muskogee Oklahoma which is famous for giving the jazz world pianist Jay McShann. Pee Wee's career in jazz began in the early 1920's in Chicago with Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer, cutting his first sides with Red Nichols and his Five Pennies in 1929. The band also featured Glenn Miller and Jack Teagarden on trombones, Bud Freeman on tenor sax and Eddie Condon on guitar.

By the early 1930's, Pee Wee moved to New York where he found a steady home in the bands of Eddie Condon and jamming with a roster of hot jazz players including Bobby Hackett, Red Allen, Edmond Hall, Hot Lips Page, Jack Bland, Buster Bailey and Vic Dickenson. Pee Wee played in the all-star band put together by Eddie Condon for Fats Waller's Carnegie Hall debut in 1942, which also included Bud Freeman and Gene Krupa. Throughout most of the 1940's Pee Wee could be found playing at Nick's, the popular Greenwich Village restaurant/club that was a mainstay for hot musicians as the swing era evolved into bop. During this period Pee Wee was recording sides for Milt Gabler's Commodore label under his own name and as a sideman.

In 1951 after years of heavy drinking and not taking care of himself, Russell fell ill and so near death that a benefit concert was held in his honor. After weeks in the hospital, including several blood transfusions and three square meals a day, Pee Wee returned to New York and played a well received set at the Newport Jazz Festival with Thelonious Monk thus proving his talent for all music whether traditional or bop.

Pee Wee was a consummate small group player. Although he was offered jobs with many of the top-name big bands of the day, Pee Wee preferred the small group swing that he had been playing all his life, and with the exception of a short stint with Bobby Hackett's Big Band played exclusively in small groups. Russell was a mainstay in traditional jazz bands along the east coast until his death in 1969. ---redhotjazz.com

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