Bobby Wellins Sextet - Homage To Caledonia

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 74:11
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 70,3 MB
Art: Front

( 9:06) 1. What is the truth?
( 7:53) 2. Conundrums
( 3:18) 3. Aura best
(12:16) 4. Piano solo
( 2:25) 5. Introduction / Gathering
(10:23) 6. March
( 5:07) 7. Battle
( 6:05) 8. Aftermath
(17:33) 9. Dizzy's blues (including St. Thomas)

Bobby Wellins said about the composition of "The Culloden Moor Suite:" "It was something that came to me after reading John Prebble's book about the Battle of Culloden and the way he described events leading up to it and the dreadful aftermath... I wanted to capture, not just the terrible sadness that must have resulted from what was a pretty horrific event, but also the sense of expectancy and celebration, even if it turned out to be misplaced, in the gathering of the Jacobite army."

This is the only complete small ensemble recording of the suite released up to 2024. The booklet, largely written by drummer Spike Wells, is a memoir of the time in 1979 when the group toured the country under the aegis of Jazz Services and the Arts Council. Wells describes the early versions of the suite with the New Departures quintet and the version with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra with Tommy Smith. On the album, the quartet becomes a sextet with the addition of Lol Coxhill and Bryan Spring.

Producer Pete Woodman outlines the background to the Battle of Culloden which took place in 1746 . It was an attempt for Charles Edward Stewart to restore his father James to the British throne. The battle is crucial to Scottish/English history but it is a pity that Woodman does not mention the excellent Peter Watkins film about the battle.

In many ways, the Pete Jacobsen piano solo which is not part of the suite, is a wonderful addition to the performance. Jacobsen is a lost hero of British jazz music. Anyone who wonders why Jacobsen's work is still cherished has only to listen to this twelve-minute, untitled piano solo. Jacobsen plays freely, ranges widely and as a maverick let loose he is lyrical, inventive and creative. The playing could have been recorded yesterday.

The suite is not "Under Milk Wood." It is hard-edged, craggy, horny, bristling with defiance and Scottish sadness,,,, a validation. The non-Culloden pieces are valuable additions to the Wellins discography.. "Aura" is short, too short, because it is haunting in the way that only a Wellins solo can be. For moments, it is all there, the plaintive tone, the endemic sadness and beauty and a completely compatible accompaniment from Jacobsen.

Although the sound quality of Jazz in Britain albums, taken from musicians' archives, is not always pristine, the presentation is always first-rate.. Here, the images of Culloden Moor and the grave markers on the moor have definition, clarity and colour. There are photos and publicity from the time. Above all, this is a valuable historical document documenting the playing of an important composition.By Jack Kenny
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/homage-to-caledonia-bobby-wellins-sextet-jazz-in-britain

Homage To Caledonia

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Kenny Wheeler - Six for Six

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:01
Size: 132,9 MB
Art: Front

( 8:18)  1. Seven, Eight, Nine (Part 1)
( 5:06)  2. Canter N. 6
( 5:55)  3. The Long Waiting
( 8:06)  4. Four, Five, Six
( 7:24)  5. Ballad N. 130
( 5:34)  6. Seven, Eight, Nine (Part 2)
( 6:56)  7. The Imminent Immigrant
(10:38)  8. Upwards

When artists move into their eighties, every new album is a gift. It's difficult enough for any octogenarian musician to maintain his/her game, but especially horn players, for whom embouchure and breath are so essential to tone and reach. Six for Six is, however, a curious gift from expat Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, who's made Britain his home since the mid-'50s. Recorded in 2008, it's his first sextet recording since 2003's Dream Sequence and even that album only featured one piece for all six players. What that really means, then, is that Six for Six is Wheeler's first real sextet date since 1980's Around 6, and his very first with a lineup consisting, in addition to his inimitable horn work, of two saxophones, piano, bass and drums. It's a curious program: a full six of its eight tracks were heard just last year on Wheeler's superb big band outing, The Long Waiting (Cam Jazz, 2012), but they couldn't be more different, demonstrating just how malleable Wheeler's charts can be. Recorded in 2011, The Long Waiting, "Seven, Eight, Nine" was a relatively concise, mid-tempo swinger that featured just one solo (Wheeler); here, it's broken into two parts spread across the record. The album-opening "Part 1" opens with a powerful a cappella intro from drummer Martin France that sets the tone for an album that's Wheeler's most flat-out incendiary since Double, Double You (ECM, 1984). Unlike The Long Waiting's mixed meter reading of 7/8, 6/8 and 4/4, "Part 1" here sticks with a constant 4/4, but at a much brighter clip and with plenty more solo space for Wheeler, tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins and soprano saxophonist Stan Sulzmann.

Excising the original's second theme for further extrapolation, "Seven, Eight, Nine (Part 2)," is taken at a slightly slower pace than "Part 1" (but still considerably brighter than the big band version) and, while significantly shorter, still leaves room for impressive solos from Sulzmann (this time on tenor), Taylor and Wheeler, with Laurence a firm but pliant anchor and France, once again, playing with fire and unfettered freedom throughout this bright 6/8 take. Wellins is the only new face here, with Sulzmann, pianist John Taylor and bassist Chris Laurence all longtime Wheeler collaborators; and, although France only made his first recorded appearance with Wheeler on The Long Waiting, he's been gigging with the trumpeter for some time, and has been a member of Taylor's trio since the pianist's superb Angel of the Presence (Cam Jazz, 2006). Still, with Wellins an alumnus of British luminaries like Stan Tracey and Tubby Hayes, it's unlikely that this is the first time he and Wheeler have broken musical bread together. On the flip side to more powerful tracks like "Upwards," which more closely mirrors the energy of The Long Waiting's version, albeit with a significantly altered arrangement, Six for Six's fresh look at "The Long Waiting," with its spare duo intro from Wheeler and Taylor, is taken at a slower pace, while the more amiable pulse of the big band's "Four, Five Six" is deserted here for a shorter version that still manages to squeeze in another piano/trumpet intro, a fiery rubato exchange between Sulzmann and Wellins and, finally and at a faster clip space for concise but high octane solos from Wellins, Taylor, Wheeler and France.

It's not just because, with the exception of The Long Waiting, Six for Six is Wheeler's first Cam Jazz recording to feature a drummer though France certainly lights one heckuva fire underneath his band mates, while still proving capable of a gentler disposition on more subdued fare like "Ballad N. 130" and the brighter, but lighter-textured "The Imminent Immigrant," making its first appearance since Wheeler's quartet date All the More (Soul Note, 1997). In a career now approaching its sixth decade, Wheeler's writing has not lost any of the unmistakable lyricism that's been a defining touchstone since early recordings like the classic Gnu High (ECM, 1976), but even as he's passed the 83 mark this year, Wheeler's lost neither his tone nor his remarkable reach his closing, stratospheric note at the end of "Four, Five, Six" being something to which many trumpeters half his age still aspire. Not since Double, Double You has Wheeler released an album as exhilarating as Six for Six. With a sextet capable of delivering both the firepower and the poetry, hopefully this won't be another of the one-shot deals that have defined the rest of Wheeler's nevertheless impressive discography. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/kenny-wheeler-six-for-six-by-john-kelman.php
 

Personnel: Kenny Wheeler: trumpet, flugelhorn; Stan Sulzmann: tenor and soprano saxophone; Bobby Wellins: tenor saxophone; John Taylor: piano; Chris Laurence: bass; Martin France: drums.

Six for Six

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Bobby Wellins - Nomad (Feat. Claire Martin)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 64:29

Size: 147.6 MB

Styles: Saxophone jazz, Vocal jazz

Year: 1993/2008

Art: Front

[5:43] 1. CUCB

[5:42] 2. Be My Love

[4:35] 3. Nomad

[4:25] 4. Sandu

[7:44] 5. Love For Sale

[7:27] 6. Willow Weep For Me

[5:41] 7. Remember Me

[2:59] 8. This I Dig Of You

[5:51] 9. Little Rootie Tootie

[4:45] 10. Silent Love

[4:25] 11. This Here

[5:07] 12. Cabin In The Sky

This Scottish jazz saxophonist was born Robert Coull Wellins to a father who played saxophone and clarinet, and a mother who sang. The couple performed professionally, and had appeared in the Sammy Miller show band, as well as doing shows as a duo. Wellins' father started him on lessons on alto saxophone when he was 12; the lessons including a complete round of music theory which naturally involved learning some piano. He studied at Chichester College of Further Education, including keyboard harmony, and continued at the RAF School of Music in Uxbridge where he began clarinet. Upon graduating, Wellins entered the world of so-called palais bands, including stints with British show-band vets Malcolm Mitchell and Vic Lewis. The latter leader took his whole band on an ocean liner to New York, where Wellins had the thrill of running into his idol, the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young.

Wellin's recording career kicked off in 1956 when he joined the piano-less Buddy Featherstonhaugh quintet, also featuring the young Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, who eventually became one of England's most well-known jazz players. The experience in this band consolidated Wellins' decision to concentrate on tenor saxophone. In the early '60s, he was hired by bandleader Tony Crombie for his latest band, beginning what would be a long association between Wellins and the influential British pianist Stan Tracey. The positive creative energy extended beyond whatever band they were in, leading to ambitious co-operative productions. The "Culloden Moor Suite" was Wellins' first major extended composition, written for and performed in this period by the New Departures Quartet supplemented by a 14-piece orchestra. The suite was recorded in 1964, and the following year the Tracey quartet recorded a suite of pieces inspired by Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood. Three decades later this record was remembered fondly, picked repeatedly in jazz magazines as an all-time favorite of British jazz.

In the '70s, Wellins began concentrating on his own groups, usually a quartet formation. He began recording as a leader, which he continued to do regularly excepting the types of gaps that seem to occur in the careers of every jazz musician. Further collaborations with Tracey took place in the '80s, along with a very special recording project including the wonderful jazz trombonist Jimmy Knepper, whose projects were unfortunately few and far between after his former boss Charles Mingus smacked him in the mouth and messed up his trombone embouchure permanently. The oversize coach overflowing with liquor and musicians that is known as the Charlie Watts big band of course dropped by and picked up Wellins, who appears amongst the throngs of players on the 1986 release Live at Fulham Town Hall. In the '90s, the saxophonist released some of his most well-received work to date, and was planning a collection of music associated with premier saloon singer Tony Bennett for the early 2000s. He also has developed a flair for the intricate and oddball music of Thelonios Monk, performing it in several repertoire groups. His influence and importance to several generations of British jazz musicians and improvisers is obvious just by checking out how many of them mention him as either an influence, collaborator, teacher -- or all three. ~bio by Eugene Chadbourne

Nomad (Feat. Claire Martin)    

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