Dick Wellstood-Ain't misbehavin'
- 17 years ago
Ain't Misbehavin' Wellstood 1985
Dick was a genius. His playing is full of fun, fire and invention. He loved doing it - despite his lack of fame or recognition in the music world - Wellstood loved playing.
Richard McQueen Wellstood was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 25, 1927. He learned to play boogie-woogie and stride piano during the mid-1940s and performed in amateur and professional Dixieland groups with reed artist Bob Wilber, touring Europe with him in 1952. He played under the leadership of Sidney Bechet during the same time period before entering law school in 1953 (a brilliant scholar who was fluent in Latin, he was admitted to the bar but didn't practice law until the 1980s). While in school, he performed intermittently with Roy Eldridge and Conrad Janis's Tailgate Five, and for the next decade he played in New York City as a solo pianist or accompanist for swing and Dixieland musicians such as Henry "Red" Allen, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, and Buster Bailey. He toured South America and Israel with Gene Krupa's quartet in 1965-66 before concentrating on developing a career as a solo pianist.
Wellstood's touch is secure and solid, his stride solid, rhythmic and accurate, and his arpeggios clean and confident without being either bone- breaking or ostentatious. As comments Dan Morgenstern in the exceptionally erudite liner notes of "Live At Hanratty's" says; "There are no gimmicks in Wellstood's playing. It doesn't come off the assembly line, but is strictly handcrafted." And, he swings like the very dickens.
Dick was on a Gig in Palo Alto, California when he died suddenly of heart complications on July 24, 1987.
Dick was a genius. His playing is full of fun, fire and invention. He loved doing it - despite his lack of fame or recognition in the music world - Wellstood loved playing.
Richard McQueen Wellstood was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 25, 1927. He learned to play boogie-woogie and stride piano during the mid-1940s and performed in amateur and professional Dixieland groups with reed artist Bob Wilber, touring Europe with him in 1952. He played under the leadership of Sidney Bechet during the same time period before entering law school in 1953 (a brilliant scholar who was fluent in Latin, he was admitted to the bar but didn't practice law until the 1980s). While in school, he performed intermittently with Roy Eldridge and Conrad Janis's Tailgate Five, and for the next decade he played in New York City as a solo pianist or accompanist for swing and Dixieland musicians such as Henry "Red" Allen, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, and Buster Bailey. He toured South America and Israel with Gene Krupa's quartet in 1965-66 before concentrating on developing a career as a solo pianist.
Wellstood's touch is secure and solid, his stride solid, rhythmic and accurate, and his arpeggios clean and confident without being either bone- breaking or ostentatious. As comments Dan Morgenstern in the exceptionally erudite liner notes of "Live At Hanratty's" says; "There are no gimmicks in Wellstood's playing. It doesn't come off the assembly line, but is strictly handcrafted." And, he swings like the very dickens.
Dick was on a Gig in Palo Alto, California when he died suddenly of heart complications on July 24, 1987.