Concerts: Pee Wee Ellis in Emirati Hamdaniyya

The late and great Pee Wee Ellis sporting a traditional Emirati Hamdaniyya.

Photographed at FUNK: EVOLUTION OF A REVOLUTION at NYUAD arts Center on April 16th, 2016. Organized by Bill Bragin, the first executive artistic director of The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi

Real name Alfred James Ellis (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021).

Pee Wee Ellis joined the James Brown Revue in 1965. He worked with Brown until 1969, co-writing 26 songs with him. He joined as an alto saxophonist, later switching to tenor and became Brown's music director within two years. Ellis said in 2015 that his "jazz influence" merged with Brown's R&B background to create funk. The songs they wrote together included the hits "Cold Sweat" (1967) and "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968); Ellis arranged both. "Say It Loud" was intended as a response to the assassination of Martin Luther King. It became a new anthem for African Americans.