Midge Ellis Passes Away
The Southeastern Michigan area lost a pioneer and promotional giant with the passing of Midge Ellis. She is best known as a prime jazz supporter, for her concerts with Stan Kenton at Clarenceville High School in Livonia, and founder of both the Detroit Jazz Festival and Michigan Jazz Festival.
Ma Jazz or Mama Jazz as she was known to her large circle of followers, Midge Ellis was raised in Corbin, Kentucky, listening to jazz on the radio while sitting in her father's lap. A trip to New Orleans cemented her love for the music, and followed up by becoming a booking agent in southern states.
Moving to Detroit in the 1960s, Midge was able to convince the powers at Clarenceville that a jazz series was a viable option in relation to the night club or concert scene. Her shows in the '70s and '80s are legendary, working with Kenton, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, the Count Basie Orchestra, Don Ellis, Maynard Ferguson, Chuck Mangione, and other mainstream to traditional jazz stars.
Midge worked at Schoolcraft College well before her involvement with the Michigan Jazz Festival. It started in 1971, where she was on their Cultural and Public Affairs Committee. In 1974 she was on staff as a programming assistant in the Community Services and Student Activities division. She held a variety of positions at Schoolcraft, including Special Activities and Conference Coordinator, Assistant to the Director of College Relations, and Coordinator of Special Events, the job from which she retired in 1991.
As a founding member, along with Kenn Cox, Don Lupp, Clarence Baker, and the organizers of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Montreux / Detroit Jazz Festival was born in 1980. She also collaborated with John Trudell and Emil Moro, to start up the Michigan Jazz Festival, initially at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights in 1996, then to the Botsford Inn in Farmington Hills, and at Schoolcraft College in Livonia since 1999.
Many condolences were offered on Facebook, particularly through the page of her son Gary "Shadowhawk" Ellis. Among those were SEMJA and Michigan Jazz Festival Board Member, and Schoolcraft Music Department Chair Barton Polot, who commented, "Midge Ellis' life is celebrated every time someone performs jazz on our campus." WRCJ‑FM music host Chris Felcyn noted, "Midge would sign off her e-mails with ‘Jazz is the oil that takes the friction out of life.'"
The Michigan Jazz Festival posted this remembrance: "The Michigan Jazz Festival is saddened to note the passing January 9 of Midge Ellis — the passionate, driving force behind our success. She was beloved by Michigan's jazz community, and the love was mutual."
Midge Ellis died at the age of 90, having just celebrated that birthday. She was always a huge supporter, and guiding light in the early to mid-period years and beyond of SEMJA. At times she stood her ground with a tough love approach, but was extremely effective in getting things done, especially alongside her longtime collaborator, the late Eileen Standley. Her greatest asset was that she was fluent in speaking the language of jazz with all the musicians she knew, and could get them to agree to participate in activities others may not have been willing to.
This writer recalls many personal conversations and phone calls that were detailed and lengthy. She had so many stories to tell, and photos to back them up.
There will be no funeral, while details for her internment are pending at press time. A memorial gathering will take place at Schoolcraft College in April. There was a jazz celebration in the honor of Midge Ellis held at Shield's Pizza in Southfield on Saturday, January 17.
ABOVE: Midge Ellis and Buddy Rich, 1976.
BELOW: Ron Kischuk's Tartarsauce Jazz Band celebrating Midge Ellis at Shield's. Chuck Shermetaro (keyboard), Gene Parker (clarinet), Ralphe Armstrong (bass), Johnny Trudell (trumpet), Kischuk (trombone), Dan Maslanka (drums)
