The band also featured his wife, Irene Taylor, as a vocalist. Later in his career, Ellis focused more on song writing, although he continued to record sporadically as well as playing the piano. In 1939, Ellis reorganized and his new band featured the conventional four-man reed section. He disbanded in 1941, and was enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. After moving back to Texas, he began to be less active as a performer and more involved in songwriting. Among his many compositions were "My Beloved Is Rugged" and "11:60PM" (both recorded by Harry James), "Gene's Boogie" (recorded by Gene Krupa), and "Little Jack Frost, Get Lost" and "You're All I Want for Christmas" (both recorded by Bing Crosby). "December" was recorded by Count Basie with a Mills Brothers vocal. The Seger Ellis songwriting catalog also includes "No Baby, Nobody But You" and "You Be You But Let Me Be Me". Seger Ellis gradually retired and took up residence in Houston, where he died in a retirement home, on September 29, 1995. Popular recordings "Freight Yard Blues" "Prairie Blues" "Sentimental Blues" "No Baby, Nobody But You" "Sweet Sue, Just You" "You Be You But Let Me Be Me" "Ain't Misbehavin'" featuring Louis Armstrong "Cheerful Little Earful" (December 1930) "The Shivery Stomp" Popular compositions "Prairie Blues" "Sentimental Blues" "The Shivery Stomp" "My Beloved Is Rugged" featuring Harry James "11:60PM" featuring Harry James "Gene's Boogie" featuring Gene Krupa "Little Jack Frost, Get Lost" featuring Bing Crosby "You're All I Want for Christmas" featuring Bing Crosby "December" featuring The Mills Brothers and Count Basie "What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You" "No Baby, Nobody But You" June Christy and Stan Kenton "You Be You But Let Me Be Me" Sources Lawrence Brown: liner notes for the CD Prairie Blues - The Music of Seger Ellis (Azure AZ-CD-22) Allan Dodge: liner notes for the CD Seger Ellis: Jazz in a Sentimental Mood (The Old Masters MB 131) Brian Rust: Jazz Records 1897-1942 (Fifth edition, Chigwell, Essex, 1983) References External links Seger Ellis recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings Seger Pillot Ellis Seger Ellis (1904-1995) - Find A Grave Memorial 1904 births 1995 deaths American jazz pianists American male pianists American jazz singers Swing bandleaders Big band bandleaders 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists Musicians from Houston Jazz musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians