Chris Ellis

British jazz veteran Chris Ellis is a perfect example of a talented singer who has spent much of his career as a behind-the-scenes person. As a vocalist, Ellis has recorded infrequently over the years--much to the regret of his fans--but he has had no problem keeping busy as a producer and an A&R man. In fact, Ellis is among Europe's better known jazz producers and is well respected for his work with the late Susannah McCorkle, one of his "discoveries." Someone who plays free jazz or fusion might say that Ellis has conservative tastes by today's standards; he has tended to favor pre-bebop jazz styles (swing, classic jazz and Dixieland) as well as traditional pre-rock pop. As a vocalist, his influences range from Jack Teagarden to Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. Nonetheless, Ellis has worked with his share of bop artists, although he has never been a big supporter of modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, fusion or jazz-funk. One might also say that Ellis has been more singer-friendly than a lot of other jazz-oriented producers; he was never the sort of producer who wanted to work with instrumentalists exclusively (which makes sense because Ellis is a singer himself). Born in Shrewsbury, England on December 25, 1928, Ellis was in his pre-teens and early teens when England was at war with Germany during World War II, and he has vivid memories of London being bombed unmercifully by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. By the time Ellis reached adulthood, World War II was over, and the Allied Forces (the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union) were victorious--which meant that young Brits had more time to devote to the arts. As a young singer, Ellis became active on the London jazz scene, but eventually, he ended putting most of his energy into production and A&R. In the ‘60s...