Instrument: Vocals
Representative Album: "Jazz in a Sentimental Mood"
Biography
"You're All I Want for Christmas" is one of the standard songs associated with Seger Ellis, an artist whose striking career also included jazz piano playing, a film appearances alongside the fascinating Ida Lupino and leading an eccentric brass choir. He began tinkling on the keyboard as a boy and was first engaged professionally as a radio performer in Texas in the mid '20s. This is where a roving talent scout from the Victor label heard him, resulting in Seger's first recordings. He was inspired to try a move to New York City, making out quite well there with a new series of sides spotlighting his vocal talents. He toured England in 1928 as a soloist. Ellis revealed yet another talent following a meeting with the popular vocal group the Mills Brothers in Cincinatti. He became the manager of this group for a few years, continuing to perform as a soloist through the '30s. Highlights of this period in which Ellis was in great demand include guest shots with the Paul Whiteman orchestra and the aforementioned film appearance, the 1934 One Rainy Afternoon. Beginning in 1936, Seger spent nearly a year creating music with a group he called the Brass Choir, then assembled something of a more normal instrumental big-band line-up for another group under his leadership. In the early '40s he was briefly in the Army, followed by a stint working in a defence plant. After moving back to Texas he began to be less active as a performer and more involved in the songwriting craft. His Christmas ditty was recorded by the likes of Al Martino, Frankie Laine and Bing Crosby. The Seger Ellis songwriting catalog also includes "No Baby, Nobody But You" and "You Be You but Let Me Be Me". ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
Ellis began his career as pianist playing live for a local Houston radio station (later known as KRPC) in the early 1920s. In 1925 he was added to the orchestra of Lloyd Finlay for a "field trip" recording session for Victor Records and was also allowed to cut two piano solos. Although unissued for technical reasons, these solo efforts led to Ellis being invited to Victor's regular recording studio in Camden, New Jersey to cut a number of piano solos, all or most of them compositions of his own. These were among the earliest records Victor made using the new electric microphone and recording equipment, a technique that was yet not perfected which probably explains why only four of the titles were eventually issued. Of these the coupling Prairie Blues and Sentimental Blues became a minor hit.
After his first recording experiences Ellis returned to Houston and radio work as well as playing in vaudeville theaters. During this period Ellis, mainly on request of his employers at the radio station, began adding singing to his piano playing. His pleasant voice went well with the audiences and in 1927 he was invited to New York to make vocal test recordings. His first issued vocal record was Sunday on the Columbia label. This was followed by a string of records for Okeh Records where Ellis was usually backed by small studio groups that he was allowed to pick himself. Ellis used the opportunity to select many of the best jazz musicians of the time including Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Andy Sannella and - on two occasions - even Louis Armstrong. On these records Ellis sang in a bittersweet alto, with which he was uncomfortable early in his career, believing his voice to be too high.
Ellis's first recording career ended in 1931. In the late 1930s however, he returned with a big band of his own, known as his "Choirs of Brass Orchestra" with himself conducting and taking occasional vocals. The band also featured his wife, Irene Taylor as a vocalist. Later in his career, Ellis focused more on songwriting, although he continued to record sporadically as well as playing the piano.
Popular compositions
No Baby, Nobody But You
You Be You but Let Me Be Me
You're All I Want For Christmas
The Shivery Stomp
You're All I Want for Christmas
What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You
Sources
Lawrence Brown: liner notes for the CD Prairie Blues - The Music of Seger Ellis (Azure AZ-CD-22)
Allan Dodge: liner notes for the CD Seger Ellis: Jazz in a Sentimental Mood (The Old Masters MB 131)
Brian Rust: Jazz Records 1897-1942 (5th edition, Chigwell, Essex 1983)
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