One of the
great British improvisers... [Bobby] has evolved a unique style and made a unique
impression on the development of the music
John Fordham
A definitive
British saxophone hero
Chrissie Murray, Jazz at Ronnie Scott's magazine
While strongly
rooted in bop, [Bobby's] playing has always avoided the predictable
Kenny Mathieson, The Scotsman
Tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins is, and always has been, an original. He is best known for his playing on Stan Tracey's classic Dylan Thomas-inspired album Under Milk Wood: his sublime performance of the tone-poem Starless and Bible Black is generally acknowledged as the album's highlight.
Bobby's new album, Fun, features the talents of bassist Andy Cleyndert, drummer Spike Wells and piano/Hammond organist Mark Edwards, and is released as part of Jazzizit's tenth anniversary celebrations.
Bobby was born in Glasgow in 1936 to a saxophonist and clarinet playing father and a mother who sang. His father gave him alto sax lessons throughout his childhood but on leaving school and moving south, he switched to studying keyboard harmony, taking a three year course at Chichester College of Further Education. A spell at the RAF School of Music in Uxbridge followed, where he studied clarinet. On leaving the RAF, Bobby entered the world of the Palais bands, including spells with Malcolm Mitchell and Vic Lewis. His tenure with Lewis included a trip on the liners to New York where Bobby, emerging one afternoon from his hotel, recognised a passing Lester Young. Bobby plucked up enough courage to approach his idol, and spent the next two hours in a bar with the great man.
Bobby's recording career started in 1956 when he joined Buddy Featherstonhaugh's quintet, featuring trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. Bobby was by now playing tenor saxophone, the instrument he's made his name with. In the early 1960s, Bobby was recruited by Tony Crombie for his latest band, alongside the great British pianist Stan Tracey. Bobby, along with Stan, was a member of a loose co-operative of musicians and poets, including Michael Horowitz, who presented jazz and poetry concerts under the title of New Departures. In 1964, Bobby wrote his famous Culloden Moor Suite. It was performed live by the New Departures Quartet and a 14-piece orchestra, and the quartet's album of the same name was released that same year.
This was followed in 1965 by the Stan Tracey Quartet's Under Milk Wood. In a 1998 poll by Jazz UK magazine, readers chose this album as their all-time favourite British jazz album. It is testament to the musical creativity of Bobby and Stan, and the strength of the latter's compositions, that despite the thousands of records made in the intervening 33 years, this record was chosen.
Wellins was absent from the jazz scene for a number of years until, in 1976, he formed his own quartet and, with Don Weller, a quintet. He was then able to perform regularly and start recording again. Bobby has played and recorded with, amongst others, Forty Two Big Band, Tubby Hayes, Johnny Dankworth Big Band, Charlie Watts Big Band, Terry Seabrook's Cubana Bop, and Spike Robinson, as well as with his own outfits. In 1998, he released The Best Is Yet To Come (Jazzizit), a collection of Tony Bennett classics on which he breathtakingly recreates Bennett's inimitable vocal delivery and phrasing. That same year, he won the BT Jazz Award.
Bobby is available for interviews and sessions. CDs and pics are available on request.
The Jazzizit Organization
Ltd
7, The Union Centre,Hillbottom Road
Sands, High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire. HP12 4HJ. UK
Tel: +44(0)1494
447373
Fax:+44(0)1494 891686
Email: jazzizituk@aol.com
Website: www.jazzizt.co.uk