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We mark the start of the 4th year of FUNK FOUNDATIONS show on www.RADIO.D59B.com \n\nWe will continue this ride focusing on artists, bands, labels, producers from different pockets of USA and few different countries\u2026digging deep and wide into the roots of funk, jazz-funk and all groove related styles.\n\n \n\nIt is a very special show\u2026a well-deserved tribute to a funk royalty and a fellow Rochesterian\u2026Mr. Alfred Pee Wee Ellis. His bio says that he was born in 1941, in Florida. He moved to Rochester with his family in the M50s. While attending Madison High School he played with jazz musicians around town including Ron Carter and Chuck Mangione. In \u201857, while visiting a repair shop in NYC, he met Sonny Rollins who agreed to give him saxophone lessons. Pee Wee was determined to get those lessons, so he made money to pay for the roundtrip ticker by playing the local clubs in Rochester. He went on to attend Manhattan School of Music, where he mastered his skills in Jazz. In 1960, he moved back to Florida working as a bandleader, musical director and writer. \n\nHe joined James Brown Band as saxophonist in \u201865. After couple of years, he became his music director. He worked with the godfather until \u201869, co-writing 26 songs. Pee Wee said that his "jazz influence" merged with Brown's R&B background\u2026to create funk.\n\n \n\nIn \u201869, he returned to New York City and started working as arranger, conductor and producer for CTI and its subsidiary Kudu\u2026collaborating with George Benson, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond Smith, Sonny Stitt and many more\u2026 He was intricate part in the creation of the jazz-funk style of the 70s. In the late 70s, he moved to San Francisco and started working with David Liebman. Around that time, he also started recording and touring with Van Morrison\u2026that lasted for 2 decades. In the L80s, Pee Wee regrouped with Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker to form the JB Horns. In the 90s and 2000s,\u2026 he continued his recording and touring career. It is thrilled to present the works of Alfred Pee Wee Ellis\u2026as usual it is all vinyl show from my collection\u2026 loaded with legends and few hidden jams.\n\n\nCHEERS,\nGeorge