Legendary jazz pianist born in Baltimore on May 15, 1923. His musically inclined parents (mom was a pianist and dad played violin with the Baltimore City Colored Orchestra) lived on West Lanvalle Street. Larkins attended Frederick Douglass High School, the Peabody Conservatory, and received a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York where he studied piano. During the 1940’s he played in New York clubs with the Billy Moore Trio and later accompanied Teddy Wilson, and vocalists including Mildred Bailey, Anita Ellis, Herb Jeffries, Joyce Carr, Georgia Gibbs, Eartha Kitt, Harry Belafonte… His recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, Ruby Braff, and Chris Connor are regarded as jazz classics.
In the ‘60s and ‘70s he worked with big band leader Joe Williams. Eventually he returned to Baltimore and played occasionally at supper clubs and small concert events.
Larkins passed away September 30, 2002.
Following is a partial Ellis Larkins discography:
With Ella Fitzgerald:
1951(10”)Decca 5300 Ella Sings Gershwin
1957(LP) Decca 8378 Ella Sings Gershwin
1950(LP) Decca Pure Ella
1954(10”)Decca 2148 Songs in A Mellow Mood – Part 1
1954(10”)Decca 2150 Songs in A Mellow Mood – Part 2
1954(LP) Decca 8068 Songs in A Mellow Mood
With Edmond Hall & Miff Mole:
1954(LP) Brunswick 58042 Tonight: Battle of Jazz – Vol. 4
With Dickie Wells & His Orchestra:
1954(LP) Bethlehem Lullabyes of Birdland
With Coleman Hawkins:
19**(78) Signature 28102 How Deep Is the Ocean? / Stumpy
With Dickie Wells & His Orchestra:
19**(78) Signature 90002 I Got Rhythm / I’m Fer It Too
Ida James & Ellis Larkins Trio:
19**(78) Decca 11004 You Must Be Blind / I Won’t Say I Will, But I Won’t
With Ruby Braff:
195*(LP) Bethlehem 1032 Holiday in Braff
1956(LP) Storyville 911 Duologue (includes cuts by Lee Wiley)
1972(LP) Chiaroscuro 117 The Grand Reunion
Julie Wilson and Ellis Larkins Trio:
1962(LP) Cameo 1021 Meet Julie Wilson
With Sylvia Syms:
1970(LP) Stanyan 10001 Love Lady (with Rod McKuen)
1976(LP) Atlantic Lovingly
With Helen Humes:
1975(LP) Columbia 33488 Talk of The Town
Solo works:
195*(LP) Decca 8303 Manhattan at Midnight
1970(LP) Stanyan Lost in The Wood
1979(LP) Black and Blue 145 A Smooth One
1980(LP) Concord Jazz 134 Swingin’ for Hamp (w/Tony Middleton)
1981(LP) DGTL 101 Ellis Larkins
1992(LP) Concord Jazz Live at Maybeck Recital Hall
