Bobby Wellins

Bobby Wellins (1936-2016) is celebrated today particularly for the fruitful fifty year association with Stan Tracey, on whose seminal album ‘Under Milk Wood’ he is an undoubted highlight. Wellins was one of the first British saxophonists to sport a truly distinctive sound – an unmistakable plaintive tone on melodic and cliché-free lines. Born in Scotland in 1936, he had appeared with John Dankworth, Vic Lewis and Tony Crombie’s Jazz Inc, before meeting Stan Tracey in 1959. Heroin addiction slowed him down in the late 1960s and for a while in the 1970s he gave up playing completely. In 1979 he rejoined Stan Tracey and from the 1980s he often led his own groups, including a quartet with Mark Edwards, Andy Cleyndert and Spike Wells.

Key Recordings:

Anything with Stan Tracey
The Satin Album (Jazzizit 1997)
Fun (Jazzizit 2004)