Writing in 1961, the poet Philip Larkin commented: "No one familiar with the characteristic excitement of his solos, their lurid, snuffling, asthmatic voicelessness, notes leant on till they split, and sudden passionate intensities, could deny the uniqueness of his contribution to jazz.

As a child, he first studied violin, but "couldn't get along with it",[4] then piano, disliking the scales and chord exercises, and then drums – including all the associated special effects.

Then his father sneaked young Ellsworth into a dance at the local Elks Club to a four- or five-piece band led by New Orleans jazz clarinetist Alcide "Yellow" Nunez.

[5] His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1920, and that September Russell was enrolled in the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois.

He also played with a Charles Creath band at the Booker T. Washington Theater, a cultural epicenter for African Americans at the time.

By the mid-1920s, Russell was a sought-after jazz clarinetist and worked with Jack Teagarden in pianist Peck Kelly's band in Texas.

He worked with various bandleaders (including Louis Prima) before beginning a series of residences at the jazz club "Nick's" in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in 1937.

Some people considered that his style was different after his breakdown: Larkin characterized it as "a hollow feathery tone framing phrases of an almost Chinese introspection with a tendency to inconclusive garrulity that would have been unheard of in the days when Pee Wee could pack more into a middle eight than any other thirties pick-up player".

Russell formed a quartet with valve trombone player Marshall Brown, and included John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman tunes in his repertoire.

"[11] George Wein's Newport All-Stars album includes a slow blues called "Pee Wee Russell's Unique Sound".