Shawn Ellison has worked with Cat Anderson, Slide Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Gorshin, and Phyllis Diller. He has performed with the UT Jazz Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, The Platters, The Coasters, The Drifters, and others. His band Native Sun won Best Jazz Band in the Austin Chronicle Music Poll in 1990, 1991, and 1992.