Event

Pee Wee Ellis & Jason Rebello

It's almost too good to be true: AOTA is delighted to present a duo of kindred spirits who between them have covered a range of music and collaborations wide enough to be an all-star festival bill in themselves. Both musicians have dug deep into soul, rock, funk and R&B but jazz is their heartland and their duo is a perfect partnership of groove, smiles, mutual appreciation, musical empathy and inspired improvisation.

Pee Wee Ellis jaw-droppingly productive career started at college with Ron Carter, with lessons at the feet of Sonny Rollins, then as music director for the great James Brown, with whom he co-wrote the inspirational civil rights anthem 'Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud') and on to work with so many other greats such as George Benson, Ginger Baker, Van Morrison and many more and in recent years his own internationally acclaimed Pee Wee Ellis Assembly.

Jason Rebello, like Pee Wee, started young, and by the age of 21 was already recognised as one of his generation's outstanding talents. Recording and touring with his own groups and alongside an array of jazz greats including Wayne Shorter, Gary Burton and Branford Marsalis, Jason was picked up not only as a jazz soloist but by symphony orchestras and as a longstanding member of world-renowned groups led by Sting and guitarist Jeff Beck.