With his distinctive and unique sound on the tenor saxophone, and the wonderful poise and lyricism of his solos there was no one else like him.
Jazz in Britain JIB-67-S-CD
Bobby Wellins (tenor saxophone); Pete Jacobsen (piano, electric piano); Adrian Kendon (double bass|); Spike Wells (drums); Lol Coxhill (soprano saxophone); Bryan Spring (percussion)
Recorded 15 & 16 November, 1979
It has long been an acknowledged fact that Bobby Wellins was a national treasure. The only person it seems that did not know it was Bobby himself. With his distinctive and unique sound on the tenor saxophone, and the wonderful poise and lyricism of his solos there was no one else like him.
This release from Jazz in Britain catches the saxophonist live in concert leading what was perhaps his finest quartet. The bass and drums axis of Adrian Kendon and Spike Wells seem to be able to take the music just about anywhere, and pianist Pete Jacobsen is of the unsung heroes of British jazz.
The quartet made a couple of LPs in 1978 and 1979, Jubilation and Dreams Are Free released on the Vortex imprint and now long out of print (and the JIB reissue titled What Was Happening combining both albums is now sold out in physical format and only available as digital download), but these live performances are another timely reminder of just how good the quartet were.
Billed on the album cover as the Bobby Wellins Sextet, the full band is only heard on four of the nine tracks that make up the CD, and are featured on the four part ‘The Culloden Moor Suite’ and a scintillating ‘Dizzy’s Blues’; but more of that later.
The opening tracks feature the quartet on three pieces that positively bristle with attitude. Wells and Kendon keep the pot boiling on a low to medium heat on ‘What Is the Truth?’ that features a stirring performance from Wellins and an excellent solo from Pete Jacobsen. In addition, listen to how the quartet flow together as one with everything seeming so natural and effortless. This is followed by ‘Conundrums’ that is a feature for Spike Wells in a dynamic solo that never meanders, and Kendon has the nerve to sneak in a father excellent solo of his own too.
All needing to catch our breath, Wellins delivers up a fine ballad in ‘Aura’ with his exquisite sense of drama and phrasing to the fore before stepping aside for a feature for Jacobsen in a twelve minute solo piano improvisation that is full of invention.
Captured on the first night of the band’s eleven date tour, the Sextet come together to perform Bobby’s ‘Culloden Moor Suite’ in its entirety. Originally conceived and written for quartet and orchestra, the quartet with the addition of soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill and Bryan Spring confining himself to percussion deliver up a passionate performance.
The suite comprising of four separate movements in ‘Gathering’, ‘March’, ‘Battle’ and ‘Aftermath’ duly depict the ill fated Jacobite uprising and defeat on 16th April 1746. Wellins’s music captures the mood of the army gathering to prepare for what may lie ahead perfectly the opening segment, while ‘March’ moves with a sense of movement and optimism of the men off to fight for their cause. The music swings hard and the two saxophonist spin lines around each other in an exhilarating and exciting dialogue.
Of course, the reality of the battle that is fiercely fought and the heavy defeat of the Jacobite army ends with much bloodshed is portrayed in Wellins’s tumultuous and turbulent score before the ‘Aftermath’ where confusion is followed by calm, and Bobby’s forlorn tenor saxophone leads the survivors away from the battlefield.
Drummer Spike Wells, advises that at this point in a concert. if time were permitting, the Sextet would play Bobby’s sign off tune, ‘Dizzy’s Blues’ and here deliver up seventeen and a half minutes of pure invention that even manages to sneak in Sonny Rollins’s ‘St Thomas’ along the way.
Coxhill solos first and it is a beauty. Typical Lol, his tone is slurred and notes bent as the improvised lines take unexpected twists and turns. Jacobsen also gets in a flowing solo followed by Kendon on bass, but it is the duologue between tenor and soprano that is the real highlight of the piece. An unlikely pairing they maybe, but Bobby and Lol turn in a spellbinding improvisation, proving that opposites can often attract.
Another excellent offering from Jazz in Britain but be warned, unless your quick the CDs will more than likely sell out fast.
