R.I.P. Bobby

[Flyposter]

Sadly, the great Bobby Wellins has passed away.

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2016/10/rip-bobby-wellins-1936-2016.html

The comment by Simon Spillett says everything I think.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Sadly, the great Bobby Wellins has passed away.

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2016/10/rip-bobby-wellins-1936-2016.html

The comment by Simon Spillett says everything I think.

Amen to that. And to have played (so individually, fittingly and superbly) on one of the most iconic jazz albums ever cut (and not just in Britain) and to have contributed much much else is a mark few could make. There was an economy to his style that became more inferential the older he got.

RIP BW.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

The extraordinary thing was, that for all Bobby went through in mid-life (or put himself through, as he would probably have admitted it), he never really seemed to age.

Those free duets with Lol Coxhill - I wonder if we'll ever get to hear them...

Goodbye to one of this country's first genuine originals of his generation, whose geneality will also be greatly missed.

[Serial_Apologist]

The bass player Adrian Kendon, who was Organiser to Jazz South back when such sponsorship was Arts Council-supported, has I see left a message on Flyposter's link. To me the opening eponymous LP track from 1979 is one of the greatest from that time, extraordinary for the ways in which tensions are achieved and released through close interaction, something I don't think Bobby always benefitted from his sidepersons, and I re-post it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6_8eP6J5P8

High time this true classic was re-released

[burning dog]

Feels like a very personal loss

[Serial_Apologist]

Feels like a very personal loss

It does indeed, to anyone fortunate enough to have crossed paths with Bobby. I anticipate quite a few anecdotes...

[Jazzrook]

Amen to that. And to have played (so individually, fittingly and superbly) on one of the most iconic jazz albums ever cut (and not just in Britain) and to have contributed much much else is a mark few could make. There was an economy to his style that became more inferential the older he got.

RIP BW.


BN.

Very sad news. His tribute to Billie Holiday, 'The Satin Album', was one of the truly great British modern jazz albums.

JR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Its a great album. And the Qrt follow up to Milk Wood, "With love from jazz" (1967) is just as good...

"Bobby Wellins belongs to that rare breed of jazz musicians who are recognisable within two or three notes. His tone is thinnish but steely; he employs not a vibrato so much as a slow, undulating effect a little like wow on a gramophone. And his conception of melody is a sensitive extension of Stan Tracey's own." - Peter Clayton's liner notes.

The Monk album he did with Stan is also heartfelt and its where he hints and alludes at things without actually playing them. A bit Warne Marsh-ish but totally his own expression.

BN.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

From 2011...."BBC Jazz Library – Featuring Bobby Wellins
Posted on April 30, 2011: (Bobby's web site)

Today’s excellent edition of Jazz Library featured Alyn Shipton talking to Bobby Wellins about his career of over 50 years and discussing some of his finest recordings, from his Dankworth big band sessions through his time with Stan Tracey to his more recent quartet sessions, with mentions of Pete Jacobsen, Spike Wells, Ronnie Scott, Jimmy Knepper and Claire Martin along the way.

The interview is a very warm one, recorded last week at the Oxford Jazz Festival 2011, and opens with Alyn introducing Bobby as “one of my favourite saxophonists in all of jazz – and I mean not just in the UK, not just Europe but everywhere in the world”.

I've still got this on tape (C90 what else) and its a beaut. A very modest guy.

BN.

[Flyposter]

Very sad news. His tribute to Billie Holiday, 'The Satin Album', was one of the truly great British modern jazz albums.

JR

I played this record when I heard the sad news. IMHO if there is one record that captures the Wellins sound (and of course his brilliance of improvisation) of his later years this is it.

[Tenor Freak]

RIP Bobby, I'm also very saddened to read this.