Review Quotes

CD’s:

"A masterful display of controlled sensitivity from one of the most original voices in European Jazz "
The Satin Album
The Sunday Times

"Wellins has one of the most beautiful tenor saxophone sounds in the history of the instrument."
The best has yet to come
Dave Gelly, The Observer

“ A Bobby Wellins tenor sax performance so sublime you feel it should be displayed in Tate Modern”
Stan Tracey's Starless and Bible Black
John L Walters, Friday June 25, 2004, The Guardian

Live:

“The poker-faced Scots tenorman, whose commanding place in British Jazz history is grows ever more secure, played so sweetly and assuredly that the listener was utterly at his mercy. Wellins' inventive interpretations of standards such as The Way You Look Tonight and When the Sun Comes Out where wonderfully fresh and exciting, veering between a ghostly melancholy and lustful exuberance but never losing sight of the melodic integrity of the song. “
Southport Winter Jazz Festival
Robert Doyle - jazzreview.com

“The high-spot of the evening was undoubtedly Bobby Wellins's composition, Battle Of Culloden Moor, a longish piece scored for the full orchestra but with improvised passages by a trio consisting of Wellins, Stan Tracy and Laurie Morgan. I've seldom heard Wellins play as well as he did on this occasion, sensitive, almost tender but with explosive forays, while the orchestrated parts hung together well and made up an impressive whole.”

Jazz And Poetry - A Concert Report
Charles Fox- JAZZ MONTHLY February 1962

“…Wellins' signature style of guttural, throat-clearing opening phrases, sudden blurts of notes ending in question marks, warbling, bird-call trills and spells of freewheeling fluency resolving in thumping bell-notes, were all unwrapped early on in a mid-tempo account of On Green Dolphin Street… Bobby Wellins' collaborative approach to improvising, feeding partners and feeding off them with inquisitive phrases that invite answers, was evident in I'm Beginning To See The Light - drawing a storming block-chord break from Lightsey - …marvellous music-making. “
Bull's Head, Barnes
John Fordham, The Guardian, July 22, 2003

“Wellins is a rarity among British reed-men… His first recording, made in 1960 under the leadership of drummer Tony Crombie, is startling. Already in evidence are the qualities which make Wellins stand out: the keen wounded tone, the long slow vibrato, the tactical use of space - highly novel coming at the time when most saxophonists aspired to the lightning dashes around chord sequences made by Tubby Hayes - and his amazing ability to disguise a song's harmonic framework by avoiding hackneyed cliches.
The haunting majesty of Wellins' solo on Starless and Bible Black from this session has been commented upon before, and deservedly so, although this has tended to sideline his incredible invention throughout this eight part work; A.M. Mayhem appropriated the blues in a way that no other British jazz artist had done before, and was an improvisation of stunning creation.”
BOBBY WELLINS- breaking the mould
Simon Spillett

“His gentle sound and approach are unique and he is without question one of the most creative players currently working in modern Jazz.”
606 Club, London

“Bobby's style is all his own, immediately unmistakable, lazy in manner, yet so compelling in its method of execution. He doesn't try to impress you with squealing notes or over-fussy solos running at breakneck speed. He just stands there, diminutive, self-effacing, humble almost, as those wonderful mellow notes flow out in a steady, mesmerizing
stream......heaven.”
North Leeds Jazz Club.
Jazz in Leeds.org