# Pee Wee Ellis, Composer of The Chicken dies, age 80

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 16, 2021, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591 "2021-10-16T08:27:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591/1 "2021-10-16T08:27:03Z")

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Just heard about this… the composer of probably my favourite tune ever The Chicken died  
on 30th September aged 80.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8p-pCv_EN08/maxresdefault.jpg "Chicken (Live feat. Fred Wesley)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p-pCv_EN08)

I have a cd in my car which has about 9 versions of this tune !!

(BTW Discourse, in what way is this topic similar to [this one about the ethnic composition of Mormonism](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-composition-of-mormonism/584477)?)

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**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591/2 "2021-10-16T17:59:26Z")

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I had heard about it. Pee Wee Ellis did much work with Van Morrison, onstage and in the studio. I have the DVD with Van’s 1980 concert at the Montreux festival (highly recommended), and Ellis is just wonderful on it, like the whole band.

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**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591/3 "2021-10-16T18:28:00Z")

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> **[Pee Wee Ellis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Wee_Ellis)**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
> 
> 			 
> Alfred James Ellis (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021), known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 1960s, appearing on many of Brown's recordings and co-writing hits like "Cold Sweat" and "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". He also worked with Van Morrison.
> In the 2014 biographical movie Get on Up about ...

He lived until his death in our town, Frome in Somerset.

Didn’t know him myself, but he taught sax to a friend of ours.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-wee-ellis-composer-of-the-chicken-dies-age-80/952591/4 "2021-10-16T22:06:36Z")

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I remember his from one of my favorite songs, _Jackie Wilson Said:_

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MlRLEKToJXY/maxresdefault.jpg "Van Morrison - Rockpalast 1998 / Düsseldorf") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlRLEKToJXY)

(Catch him at 2:45… doin’ the job, man)

Just today I found out:  
Pee-Wee _played with Jackie Wilson!_