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Kevin Le Gendre presents live music from the late saxophonist and composer Pee Wee Ellis who died in September 2021, aged 80. A highly gifted composer, Ellis worked as James Brown’s musical director and was the mastermind behind Brown’s timeless power anthem ‘Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)’. As well as performing with Brown, he went on the play with the likes of Van Morrison, Ginger Baker and Ali Farka Touré as well as leading his own band, the Pee Wee Ellis Assembly. Here we hear highlights of a concert recorded live in Hamburg with the NDR Big Band in 2015.

Also in the programme, we hear from the internationally renowned singer and songwriter Madeleine Peyroux. Likened to the voices of jazz greats Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, Peyroux’s dusky, unmissable tone has captured the minds and souls of listeners for the last 30 years. Here she shares some of the music that has inspired her, including one of her deepest influences, Billie Holiday.

Produced by Thomas Rees for Somethin' Else.