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Bobby Wellins Quartet: What Was Happening

By Chris May
March 19, 2024
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Bobby Wellins Quartet: What Was Happening

In 1965 tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins made an indelible mark on jazz history with his contribution to pianist

Stan Tracey

piano
1926 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Stan Tracey's Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood (Columbia). The exquisite "Starless And Bible Black" is the most frequently cited track (check the YouTube below) and is indicative of the album's overall beauty. For a while, things looked good for the Glasgow-born, London-based Wellins, but by the end of the decade "health problems" closed down his career until around 1977, when, now based on Britain's south coast, he returned, clean, to the scene.

Jazz In Britain's What Was Happening takes up the story with reissues of 1978's Jubilation (Vortex), a live album, and 1979's Dreams Are Free (Vortex), a studio album. The 2CD set also includes over an hour's worth of previously unreleased material recorded at or around the same time. The line-up on all tracks is Wellins on tenor,

Pete Jacobsen

keyboards
b.1950

" data-original-title="" title="">Pete Jacobsen on piano, electric piano and organ, Adrian Kendon on bass and

Spike Wells

drums
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Spike Wells on drums.

Wellins was among the most distinctive of the tenor saxophonists who emerged in Britain in the 1960s. He was also a composer of the first order. The tracks on the reissued albums here are originals, the bonus tracks are covers, and Wells' writing stands up respectably alongside the cover-composers (who include

Charlie Parker

saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker,

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk and

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington). As a player, Wellins was far removed from his close contemporary

Tubby Hayes

saxophone, tenor
1935 - 1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Tubby Hayes, eschewing hard edges and virtuosic torrents in favor of an often-plaintive sound and more spacious architecture. He could blow up a storm when he felt like it but excelled on ballads. He passed in 2016.

The bonus material comes from Spike Wells' tape archive. Wells also wrote most of the insightful 16-page liner booklet. .

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Track Listing

CD1: Jubiliation: Jubilation; Nomad; What's Happening; Spider. Bonus tracks: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise; You Don't Know What Love Is; Billie's Bounce. CD2: Dreams Are Free: Dreams Are Free; Love Dance; Aura; Conundrum; What Is The Truth; Ba-loos. Bonus tracks: Rhythm-a-ning; In A Sentimental Mood; Now's The Time; My Melancholy Baby.

Personnel

Bobby Wellins

saxophone, tenor

Pete Jacobsen

keyboards

Adrian Kendon

bass, acoustic

Spike Wells

drums

Album information

Title: What Was Happening | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Jazz In Britain

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