Ellis Larkins Transcriptions

Biography of Ellis Larkins

Ellis Larkins was an American jazz pianist celebrated as a masterful accompanist, best known for his two intimate duo albums with Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Sings Gershwin (1950) and Songs in a Mellow Mood (1954), which critics consider among the finest vocal-piano recordings in jazz history. A classically trained child prodigy who performed for Eleanor Roosevelt and became the first African-American student at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory, he applied his sophisticated technique to a career defined by discretion and harmonic ingenuity in support of great singers. His elegant, economical style and "rainbow of interwoven musical textures" also shaped the early careers of other vocalists and instrumentalists, including a key role in singer Chris Connor's first solo album and acclaimed duets with cornetist Ruby Braff.