Manty Ellis is known as the godfather of Milwaukee jazz.
Ellis, 92, has been playing jazz music and has paved the way for others to play jazz since the 1960s.
On Feb.18, the Jazz Foundation of America announced Ellis was one of 20 inaugural fellows for the Jazz Legacies Fellowship, an initiative launched by the JFA in partnership with the Mellon Foundation.
The fellowship honors each recipient with a lifetime achievement award and an unrestricted grant of $100,000.
Ellis is serving the community in his own way with the Manty Ellis Community Foundation, or MECF, which works to preserve the legacy of prominent musicians as well as provide space and resources to musicians both locally and nationally.
“Our culture has been the foundation of different genres of music,” Ellis said. “I want people to know that and respect the foundation and accomplishments of musicians that came before them.”
The sounds of music
Born in 1933, Ellis navigated life to the strum of his guitar, literally. He rose to the top of Milwaukee’s jazz community quietly and accidentally.
The son of a pianist, Ellis said music is all he’s ever known.
“The piano and my crib were in the same room,” he said. “The sounds of my father’s piano penetrated my heart before I could even comprehend what was happening.”
Ellis started his career playing piano, which he’d learned from his father, but he quickly realized his heart was with the guitar.
Like most musicians, Ellis worked odd jobs to support his family and music career. He even worked as a certified airplane technician for the U.S. military at one point. But he said those jobs were always supplemental to his music career.
“My brain gets cut off by heart so I didn’t think about what I should be doing or could be doing,” he said. “I just listened to my heart and all it could hear was music.”
In his prime, Ellis played a vital role in shaping Milwaukee’s jazz scene by being a regular presence in jazz clubs across the city.
“I always heard in Milwaukee, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,” he said. “And I didn’t realize I was already doing what they told me I couldn’t do. I was working seven nights a week”
The educator
On Feb. 2, Manty Ellis participated in a monthly jazz jam session at the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts.
Almost everyone in the room of about 40 people shared stories of how Ellis had been their teacher or impacted their journey in one way or another.
One of the major goals of the Manty Ellis Community Foundation is to educate people, which aligns with who Ellis is.
Ellis is most known for co-founding the jazz program at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music along with Tony King, where he taught many of Milwaukee’s current jazz musicians.
He is also known for a music store he owned, Ellis Music, where musicians from all over the country would come and play with him.
Building a strong foundation
Ellis said he’s never liked when people would say jazz needs to be saved.
“Jazz doesn’t need saving,” he said. “It’s too busy saving us.”
But he realizes that musicians don’t always have the recognition, support, resources and community they need to thrive.
So, born out of collective hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and his love for music and musicians, Ellis with the help of Jesse Catalino Montijo, the artistic director for the MECF, and Grace Montijo, the executive director of the MECF, founded the Manty Ellis Community Foundation.
“Now we’re in a position to start healing and doing good,” Grace Montijo said. “And it’s because Manty saw with his heart the opportunity to heal, and that’s what he’s always done.”
The Manty Ellis Community Foundation is a hub that leverages music as a catalyst for social change, supportive environments and musician resources.
The goal of the foundation is to educate and preserve the legacy of Ellis.
The foundation is in the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit and is looking for a building that will serve as a community-based performance center.
For more information
Ellis is still actively playing. You can see him, his friends and mentees play at the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts, 926 E Center St., on the first Sunday of every month from noon to 2 p.m.
To get in touch with people at the foundation, email MantyEllisCommunityFoundation@gmail.com, or call Grace Montijo 920-889-1599 or Jesse Catalino Montijo at 920-447-2076.
