Born March 27, 1937 in Centralia, Illinois; the son of Armon Joseph “Kinky” Elliston and
Cassie Lucille Elliston. Died February 25, 2015 at Agapé Senior Midlands Hospice House in
Columbia, SC
Preceded in death by: wife, Veronica “Ronnie” Wells-Elliston; son, Michael Elliston; and
sister Judith “Judo” Diane McGoran. Survived by: sons Jason Elliston of Chapin, SC; Timo
Elliston of Brooklyn, NY and Charles Elliston of Houston, TX; step-son Sean Wells of
Columbia, MD; sister Sherry Hudson of Las Vegas, NV; brother Michael Elliston of Atlanta,
GA; and grandchildren Angela Elliston of Puerto Rico; Jenna Elliston of Houston; twins
Aaron & Julia Elliston of Brooklyn, NY; and Emily Elliston of Chapin, SC.
Ronald James Elliston, or Ron, as he was known to his friends, and Ronnie to his family,
was a child prodigy. He didn't have much choice in the matter, it has been said. The story
goes that the day he was brought home from the hospital, his dad, "Kinky" (after his hair,
not his proclivities) sat down at the piano with him and began pushing down the keys with his
tiny hands. So one of the first experiences of the new world for the new infant was the sound
of the piano. Armon Elliston had a jazz quintet in the 1940s, and so Ron came by his
avocation, and his love of music and the piano in particular, naturally.
By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he had outstripped all the local piano teachers in his
hometown of Centralia, Illinois and began taking lessons in St. Louis. He played clarinet in
the high school band, as did his sweetheart and first wife, Diane Loomis. He would joke at
the time, "What is worse than a clarinet? Two clarinets." Later, he could be found playing
piano in the various clubs that featured music in Centralia and in the area.
In college, Ron was a member of the esteemed University of Illinois Jazz Band led by
John Garvey. This legendary band, which included such luminaries as Cecil Bridgewater,
Jim McNeely, James Knapp, Howie Smith and Ron Dewar, toured nationally and
internationally to Western and Eastern Europe. After graduating he moved to Chicago and
became established on the jazz scene, playing at the Playboy Club locally and on the road
to venues including Carnegie Hall with the Dick Shorey Orchestra, the Prague Jazz Festival,
and the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where he accompanied Benny Carter and Sarah
Vaughan. He later returned to University of Illinois to complete his Master’s Degree. During
this time, Ron began his teaching career and he co-authored “Keyboard Musicianship
Books I & II” with James Lyke.
In 1974, Ron accepted a job as Associate Professor of Music at the University of
Maryland,College Park, where he trained students in classical and jazz music, and would do
so for the next 30 years. Ron was instrumental in establishing the Jazz Studies program at
Maryland. He initiated the Jazz Piano Study and Group Piano Improvisation Courses, and he
designed and taught the first jazz history course and the first jazz workshop at the University
of Maryland. He also arranged for his friend and musical hero Bill Evans to come and give a
performance and workshop at the UMCP campus.
Both at the University and out of his home, Ron established himself as one of the areas
preeminent piano teachers, providing a unique philosophical approach to learning music
that attracted students on both the amateur and professional level. He pursued an
understanding of ones personal learning process and the impediments to learning that were
commonly self-imposed by the student. He used to say, “the music is not difficult, YOU are
difficult.”
At night, Ron would perform regularly at the One Step Down, Charlie’s Georgetown, the
Top O’Foolery, Blues Alley and other DC-area music venues. It was at the Top O’Foolery, in
1976, that Ron met and accompanied vocalist Ronnie Wells. This began a lifelong
collaboration that resulted in countless performances together, 14 albums, and marriage in
1982.
In 1983, Ron and Ronnie began a Jazz Piano and Vocal Workshop course at UMCP. This
class was a combination workshop, lecture and master class approach to the problems of
singing and accompanying professionally in the jazz and pop fields. Ron said at the time,
“The Jazz Piano-Jazz Vocal Techniques workshop is by far the most effective and
rewarding musical experience that I have been able to provide for my students or myself
since coming to the University of Maryland. The Workshop has created an environment that
is both challenging and conducive to improvisation. I am most pleased that Ronnie and I
have been able to create an atmosphere so similar to that of a professional one.
“It is our basic philosophy that learning to be a musician is essentially an individual and
self-centered endeavor that cannot be successfully achieved in a traditional academic
environment. Our first task is to convince students who are conditioned to the traditional
academic approach that we are not going to ‘spoon feed’ them or, in any way, ‘teach’ them
how to improvise. Instead, they must learn to think for themselves and assume the
responsibility for tapping their own creative resources. Once they accept that responsibility,
we can guide and help them to discover their own individual, musical personalities. The
professional arena is the only real ‘school’ where this can succeed and Ronnie and I are
grateful we have come so close to realizing our objectives.”
The class was hugely successful, and Ron and Ronnie would go on to establish The
Elliston Music Studios for Jazz Studies, teaching similar vocal and piano workshops out of
their home 5or 6 nights a week for over two decades. Ronnie would joke that the workshops
had gotten so big that they needed a bigger venue.
In 1993, Ron and Ronnie founded the East Coast Jazz Festival (ECJF), to take place in
the Washington Metro area each President’s Day weekend, and to support the Fish
Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund, Inc (FMJS). FMJS was a nonprofit organization created by
Ron and Ronnie in honor of Elmore “Fish” Middleton, a Washington, DC jazz radio
programmer, whose commitment to promoting jazz music and supporting emerging jazz
artists became the guiding principle behind the festival. The mission of the FMJS was “…to
assist emerging jazz artists throughout the nation in their educational and artistic
development; offer a wider base for the presentation of jazz; and insure the continuation of
jazz education and performance in public schools and institutions of higher learning.”
The festival provided a performance venue for both headlining and local artists, as well
as school bands. It also hosted the FMJS competition, which provided financial assistance to
emerging jazz artists. Many winners of the scholarship have gone on to have prominent
careers in music and jazz, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists John Ellis and
Grace Kelly, drummer Rodney Green, pianist Helen Sung, and bassists Reuben Rogers and
Ben Williams.
The ECJF ran for 13 years until Ronnie Wells’ death from lung cancer in 2007. Ron would
continue teaching out of their home and would perform on occasion. But, with his own health
failing, he moved to South Carolina in 2013 to live with his son, Jason Elliston. Ron passed
away on February 25.
Bio written by Tacha Coleman-Parr
Cassie Lucille Elliston. Died February 25, 2015 at Agapé Senior Midlands Hospice House in
Columbia, SC
Preceded in death by: wife, Veronica “Ronnie” Wells-Elliston; son, Michael Elliston; and
sister Judith “Judo” Diane McGoran. Survived by: sons Jason Elliston of Chapin, SC; Timo
Elliston of Brooklyn, NY and Charles Elliston of Houston, TX; step-son Sean Wells of
Columbia, MD; sister Sherry Hudson of Las Vegas, NV; brother Michael Elliston of Atlanta,
GA; and grandchildren Angela Elliston of Puerto Rico; Jenna Elliston of Houston; twins
Aaron & Julia Elliston of Brooklyn, NY; and Emily Elliston of Chapin, SC.
Ronald James Elliston, or Ron, as he was known to his friends, and Ronnie to his family,
was a child prodigy. He didn't have much choice in the matter, it has been said. The story
goes that the day he was brought home from the hospital, his dad, "Kinky" (after his hair,
not his proclivities) sat down at the piano with him and began pushing down the keys with his
tiny hands. So one of the first experiences of the new world for the new infant was the sound
of the piano. Armon Elliston had a jazz quintet in the 1940s, and so Ron came by his
avocation, and his love of music and the piano in particular, naturally.
By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he had outstripped all the local piano teachers in his
hometown of Centralia, Illinois and began taking lessons in St. Louis. He played clarinet in
the high school band, as did his sweetheart and first wife, Diane Loomis. He would joke at
the time, "What is worse than a clarinet? Two clarinets." Later, he could be found playing
piano in the various clubs that featured music in Centralia and in the area.
In college, Ron was a member of the esteemed University of Illinois Jazz Band led by
John Garvey. This legendary band, which included such luminaries as Cecil Bridgewater,
Jim McNeely, James Knapp, Howie Smith and Ron Dewar, toured nationally and
internationally to Western and Eastern Europe. After graduating he moved to Chicago and
became established on the jazz scene, playing at the Playboy Club locally and on the road
to venues including Carnegie Hall with the Dick Shorey Orchestra, the Prague Jazz Festival,
and the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where he accompanied Benny Carter and Sarah
Vaughan. He later returned to University of Illinois to complete his Master’s Degree. During
this time, Ron began his teaching career and he co-authored “Keyboard Musicianship
Books I & II” with James Lyke.
In 1974, Ron accepted a job as Associate Professor of Music at the University of
Maryland,College Park, where he trained students in classical and jazz music, and would do
so for the next 30 years. Ron was instrumental in establishing the Jazz Studies program at
Maryland. He initiated the Jazz Piano Study and Group Piano Improvisation Courses, and he
designed and taught the first jazz history course and the first jazz workshop at the University
of Maryland. He also arranged for his friend and musical hero Bill Evans to come and give a
performance and workshop at the UMCP campus.
Both at the University and out of his home, Ron established himself as one of the areas
preeminent piano teachers, providing a unique philosophical approach to learning music
that attracted students on both the amateur and professional level. He pursued an
understanding of ones personal learning process and the impediments to learning that were
commonly self-imposed by the student. He used to say, “the music is not difficult, YOU are
difficult.”
At night, Ron would perform regularly at the One Step Down, Charlie’s Georgetown, the
Top O’Foolery, Blues Alley and other DC-area music venues. It was at the Top O’Foolery, in
1976, that Ron met and accompanied vocalist Ronnie Wells. This began a lifelong
collaboration that resulted in countless performances together, 14 albums, and marriage in
1982.
In 1983, Ron and Ronnie began a Jazz Piano and Vocal Workshop course at UMCP. This
class was a combination workshop, lecture and master class approach to the problems of
singing and accompanying professionally in the jazz and pop fields. Ron said at the time,
“The Jazz Piano-Jazz Vocal Techniques workshop is by far the most effective and
rewarding musical experience that I have been able to provide for my students or myself
since coming to the University of Maryland. The Workshop has created an environment that
is both challenging and conducive to improvisation. I am most pleased that Ronnie and I
have been able to create an atmosphere so similar to that of a professional one.
“It is our basic philosophy that learning to be a musician is essentially an individual and
self-centered endeavor that cannot be successfully achieved in a traditional academic
environment. Our first task is to convince students who are conditioned to the traditional
academic approach that we are not going to ‘spoon feed’ them or, in any way, ‘teach’ them
how to improvise. Instead, they must learn to think for themselves and assume the
responsibility for tapping their own creative resources. Once they accept that responsibility,
we can guide and help them to discover their own individual, musical personalities. The
professional arena is the only real ‘school’ where this can succeed and Ronnie and I are
grateful we have come so close to realizing our objectives.”
The class was hugely successful, and Ron and Ronnie would go on to establish The
Elliston Music Studios for Jazz Studies, teaching similar vocal and piano workshops out of
their home 5or 6 nights a week for over two decades. Ronnie would joke that the workshops
had gotten so big that they needed a bigger venue.
In 1993, Ron and Ronnie founded the East Coast Jazz Festival (ECJF), to take place in
the Washington Metro area each President’s Day weekend, and to support the Fish
Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund, Inc (FMJS). FMJS was a nonprofit organization created by
Ron and Ronnie in honor of Elmore “Fish” Middleton, a Washington, DC jazz radio
programmer, whose commitment to promoting jazz music and supporting emerging jazz
artists became the guiding principle behind the festival. The mission of the FMJS was “…to
assist emerging jazz artists throughout the nation in their educational and artistic
development; offer a wider base for the presentation of jazz; and insure the continuation of
jazz education and performance in public schools and institutions of higher learning.”
The festival provided a performance venue for both headlining and local artists, as well
as school bands. It also hosted the FMJS competition, which provided financial assistance to
emerging jazz artists. Many winners of the scholarship have gone on to have prominent
careers in music and jazz, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists John Ellis and
Grace Kelly, drummer Rodney Green, pianist Helen Sung, and bassists Reuben Rogers and
Ben Williams.
The ECJF ran for 13 years until Ronnie Wells’ death from lung cancer in 2007. Ron would
continue teaching out of their home and would perform on occasion. But, with his own health
failing, he moved to South Carolina in 2013 to live with his son, Jason Elliston. Ron passed
away on February 25.
Bio written by Tacha Coleman-Parr
Born March 27, 1937 in Centralia, Illinois; the son of Armon Joseph “Kinky” Elliston and
Cassie Lucille Elliston. Died February 25, 2015 at Agapé Senior Midlands Hospice House in
Columbia, SC
Preceded in death by: wife, Veronica “Ronnie” Wells-Elliston; son, Michael Elliston; and
sister Judith “Judo” Diane McGoran. Survived by: sons Jason Elliston of Chapin, SC; Timo
Elliston of Brooklyn, NY and Charles Elliston of Houston, TX; step-son Sean Wells of
Columbia, MD; sister Sherry Hudson of Las Vegas, NV; brother Michael Elliston of Atlanta,
GA; and grandchildren Angela Elliston of Puerto Rico; Jenna Elliston of Houston; twins
Aaron & Julia Elliston of Brooklyn, NY; and Emily Elliston of Chapin, SC.
Ronald James Elliston, or Ron, as he was known to his friends, and Ronnie to his family,
was a child prodigy. He didn't have much choice in the matter, it has been said. The story
goes that the day he was brought home from the hospital, his dad, "Kinky" (after his hair,
not his proclivities) sat down at the piano with him and began pushing down the keys with his
tiny hands. So one of the first experiences of the new world for the new infant was the sound
of the piano. Armon Elliston had a jazz quintet in the 1940s, and so Ron came by his
avocation, and his love of music and the piano in particular, naturally.
By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he had outstripped all the local piano teachers in his
hometown of Centralia, Illinois and began taking lessons in St. Louis. He played clarinet in
the high school band, as did his sweetheart and first wife, Diane Loomis. He would joke at
the time, "What is worse than a clarinet? Two clarinets." Later, he could be found playing
piano in the various clubs that featured music in Centralia and in the area.
In college, Ron was a member of the esteemed University of Illinois Jazz Band led by
John Garvey. This legendary band, which included such luminaries as Cecil Bridgewater,
Jim McNeely, James Knapp, Howie Smith and Ron Dewar, toured nationally and
internationally to Western and Eastern Europe. After graduating he moved to Chicago and
became established on the jazz scene, playing at the Playboy Club locally and on the road
to venues including Carnegie Hall with the Dick Shorey Orchestra, the Prague Jazz Festival,
and the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where he accompanied Benny Carter and Sarah
Vaughan. He later returned to University of Illinois to complete his Master’s Degree. During
this time, Ron began his teaching career and he co-authored “Keyboard Musicianship
Books I & II” with James Lyke.
In 1974, Ron accepted a job as Associate Professor of Music at the University of
Maryland,College Park, where he trained students in classical and jazz music, and would do
so for the next 30 years. Ron was instrumental in establishing the Jazz Studies program at
Maryland. He initiated the Jazz Piano Study and Group Piano Improvisation Courses, and he
designed and taught the first jazz history course and the first jazz workshop at the University
of Maryland. He also arranged for his friend and musical hero Bill Evans to come and give a
performance and workshop at the UMCP campus.
Both at the University and out of his home, Ron established himself as one of the areas
preeminent piano teachers, providing a unique philosophical approach to learning music
that attracted students on both the amateur and professional level. He pursued an
understanding of ones personal learning process and the impediments to learning that were
commonly self-imposed by the student. He used to say, “the music is not difficult, YOU are
difficult.”
At night, Ron would perform regularly at the One Step Down, Charlie’s Georgetown, the
Top O’Foolery, Blues Alley and other DC-area music venues. It was at the Top O’Foolery, in
1976, that Ron met and accompanied vocalist Ronnie Wells. This began a lifelong
collaboration that resulted in countless performances together, 14 albums, and marriage in
1982.
In 1983, Ron and Ronnie began a Jazz Piano and Vocal Workshop course at UMCP. This
class was a combination workshop, lecture and master class approach to the problems of
singing and accompanying professionally in the jazz and pop fields. Ron said at the time,
“The Jazz Piano-Jazz Vocal Techniques workshop is by far the most effective and
rewarding musical experience that I have been able to provide for my students or myself
since coming to the University of Maryland. The Workshop has created an environment that
is both challenging and conducive to improvisation. I am most pleased that Ronnie and I
have been able to create an atmosphere so similar to that of a professional one.
“It is our basic philosophy that learning to be a musician is essentially an individual and
self-centered endeavor that cannot be successfully achieved in a traditional academic
environment. Our first task is to convince students who are conditioned to the traditional
academic approach that we are not going to ‘spoon feed’ them or, in any way, ‘teach’ them
how to improvise. Instead, they must learn to think for themselves and assume the
responsibility for tapping their own creative resources. Once they accept that responsibility,
we can guide and help them to discover their own individual, musical personalities. The
professional arena is the only real ‘school’ where this can succeed and Ronnie and I are
grateful we have come so close to realizing our objectives.”
The class was hugely successful, and Ron and Ronnie would go on to establish The
Elliston Music Studios for Jazz Studies, teaching similar vocal and piano workshops out of
their home 5or 6 nights a week for over two decades. Ronnie would joke that the workshops
had gotten so big that they needed a bigger venue.
In 1993, Ron and Ronnie founded the East Coast Jazz Festival (ECJF), to take place in
the Washington Metro area each President’s Day weekend, and to support the Fish
Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund, Inc (FMJS). FMJS was a nonprofit organization created by
Ron and Ronnie in honor of Elmore “Fish” Middleton, a Washington, DC jazz radio
programmer, whose commitment to promoting jazz music and supporting emerging jazz
artists became the guiding principle behind the festival. The mission of the FMJS was “…to
assist emerging jazz artists throughout the nation in their educational and artistic
development; offer a wider base for the presentation of jazz; and insure the continuation of
jazz education and performance in public schools and institutions of higher learning.”
The festival provided a performance venue for both headlining and local artists, as well
as school bands. It also hosted the FMJS competition, which provided financial assistance to
emerging jazz artists. Many winners of the scholarship have gone on to have prominent
careers in music and jazz, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists John Ellis and
Grace Kelly, drummer Rodney Green, pianist Helen Sung, and bassists Reuben Rogers and
Ben Williams.
The ECJF ran for 13 years until Ronnie Wells’ death from lung cancer in 2007. Ron would
continue teaching out of their home and would perform on occasion. But, with his own health
failing, he moved to South Carolina in 2013 to live with his son, Jason Elliston. Ron passed
away on February 25.
Bio written by Tacha Coleman-Parr
Cassie Lucille Elliston. Died February 25, 2015 at Agapé Senior Midlands Hospice House in
Columbia, SC
Preceded in death by: wife, Veronica “Ronnie” Wells-Elliston; son, Michael Elliston; and
sister Judith “Judo” Diane McGoran. Survived by: sons Jason Elliston of Chapin, SC; Timo
Elliston of Brooklyn, NY and Charles Elliston of Houston, TX; step-son Sean Wells of
Columbia, MD; sister Sherry Hudson of Las Vegas, NV; brother Michael Elliston of Atlanta,
GA; and grandchildren Angela Elliston of Puerto Rico; Jenna Elliston of Houston; twins
Aaron & Julia Elliston of Brooklyn, NY; and Emily Elliston of Chapin, SC.
Ronald James Elliston, or Ron, as he was known to his friends, and Ronnie to his family,
was a child prodigy. He didn't have much choice in the matter, it has been said. The story
goes that the day he was brought home from the hospital, his dad, "Kinky" (after his hair,
not his proclivities) sat down at the piano with him and began pushing down the keys with his
tiny hands. So one of the first experiences of the new world for the new infant was the sound
of the piano. Armon Elliston had a jazz quintet in the 1940s, and so Ron came by his
avocation, and his love of music and the piano in particular, naturally.
By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he had outstripped all the local piano teachers in his
hometown of Centralia, Illinois and began taking lessons in St. Louis. He played clarinet in
the high school band, as did his sweetheart and first wife, Diane Loomis. He would joke at
the time, "What is worse than a clarinet? Two clarinets." Later, he could be found playing
piano in the various clubs that featured music in Centralia and in the area.
In college, Ron was a member of the esteemed University of Illinois Jazz Band led by
John Garvey. This legendary band, which included such luminaries as Cecil Bridgewater,
Jim McNeely, James Knapp, Howie Smith and Ron Dewar, toured nationally and
internationally to Western and Eastern Europe. After graduating he moved to Chicago and
became established on the jazz scene, playing at the Playboy Club locally and on the road
to venues including Carnegie Hall with the Dick Shorey Orchestra, the Prague Jazz Festival,
and the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where he accompanied Benny Carter and Sarah
Vaughan. He later returned to University of Illinois to complete his Master’s Degree. During
this time, Ron began his teaching career and he co-authored “Keyboard Musicianship
Books I & II” with James Lyke.
In 1974, Ron accepted a job as Associate Professor of Music at the University of
Maryland,College Park, where he trained students in classical and jazz music, and would do
so for the next 30 years. Ron was instrumental in establishing the Jazz Studies program at
Maryland. He initiated the Jazz Piano Study and Group Piano Improvisation Courses, and he
designed and taught the first jazz history course and the first jazz workshop at the University
of Maryland. He also arranged for his friend and musical hero Bill Evans to come and give a
performance and workshop at the UMCP campus.
Both at the University and out of his home, Ron established himself as one of the areas
preeminent piano teachers, providing a unique philosophical approach to learning music
that attracted students on both the amateur and professional level. He pursued an
understanding of ones personal learning process and the impediments to learning that were
commonly self-imposed by the student. He used to say, “the music is not difficult, YOU are
difficult.”
At night, Ron would perform regularly at the One Step Down, Charlie’s Georgetown, the
Top O’Foolery, Blues Alley and other DC-area music venues. It was at the Top O’Foolery, in
1976, that Ron met and accompanied vocalist Ronnie Wells. This began a lifelong
collaboration that resulted in countless performances together, 14 albums, and marriage in
1982.
In 1983, Ron and Ronnie began a Jazz Piano and Vocal Workshop course at UMCP. This
class was a combination workshop, lecture and master class approach to the problems of
singing and accompanying professionally in the jazz and pop fields. Ron said at the time,
“The Jazz Piano-Jazz Vocal Techniques workshop is by far the most effective and
rewarding musical experience that I have been able to provide for my students or myself
since coming to the University of Maryland. The Workshop has created an environment that
is both challenging and conducive to improvisation. I am most pleased that Ronnie and I
have been able to create an atmosphere so similar to that of a professional one.
“It is our basic philosophy that learning to be a musician is essentially an individual and
self-centered endeavor that cannot be successfully achieved in a traditional academic
environment. Our first task is to convince students who are conditioned to the traditional
academic approach that we are not going to ‘spoon feed’ them or, in any way, ‘teach’ them
how to improvise. Instead, they must learn to think for themselves and assume the
responsibility for tapping their own creative resources. Once they accept that responsibility,
we can guide and help them to discover their own individual, musical personalities. The
professional arena is the only real ‘school’ where this can succeed and Ronnie and I are
grateful we have come so close to realizing our objectives.”
The class was hugely successful, and Ron and Ronnie would go on to establish The
Elliston Music Studios for Jazz Studies, teaching similar vocal and piano workshops out of
their home 5or 6 nights a week for over two decades. Ronnie would joke that the workshops
had gotten so big that they needed a bigger venue.
In 1993, Ron and Ronnie founded the East Coast Jazz Festival (ECJF), to take place in
the Washington Metro area each President’s Day weekend, and to support the Fish
Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund, Inc (FMJS). FMJS was a nonprofit organization created by
Ron and Ronnie in honor of Elmore “Fish” Middleton, a Washington, DC jazz radio
programmer, whose commitment to promoting jazz music and supporting emerging jazz
artists became the guiding principle behind the festival. The mission of the FMJS was “…to
assist emerging jazz artists throughout the nation in their educational and artistic
development; offer a wider base for the presentation of jazz; and insure the continuation of
jazz education and performance in public schools and institutions of higher learning.”
The festival provided a performance venue for both headlining and local artists, as well
as school bands. It also hosted the FMJS competition, which provided financial assistance to
emerging jazz artists. Many winners of the scholarship have gone on to have prominent
careers in music and jazz, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists John Ellis and
Grace Kelly, drummer Rodney Green, pianist Helen Sung, and bassists Reuben Rogers and
Ben Williams.
The ECJF ran for 13 years until Ronnie Wells’ death from lung cancer in 2007. Ron would
continue teaching out of their home and would perform on occasion. But, with his own health
failing, he moved to South Carolina in 2013 to live with his son, Jason Elliston. Ron passed
away on February 25.
Bio written by Tacha Coleman-Parr
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