Bill Wells Explained

Bill Wells
Birth Place:Falkirk, Scotland
Birth Date:c.
Instrument:Bass, Guitar, Piano
Genre:Jazz
Label:Geographic Music, Double Six, Domino Records http://www.dominorecordco.com
Associated Acts:Bill Wells Octet
The Pastels
Maher Shalal Hash Baz
Future Pilot A.K.A.
Lol Coxhill
Isobel Campbell

Bill Wells (born c. 1963)[1] is a Scottish bassist, pianist, guitarist and composer.

Biography

Wells is completely self-taught, and began performing in clubs in Scotland in the late 1980s. He began arranging his own work and initially offered these to Bobby Wishart, but when Wishart declined the offer, Wells formed his own Bill Wells Octet, which has included Lindsay Cooper, Alastair Morrow, Robert Henderson, John Longbotham, Phil and Tom Bancroft. Wells' style of experimental jazz takes influences from Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, Gil Evans, and Charles Mingus.

Wells has collaborated with several prominent Scottish independent rock and pop musicians, including with David Keenan of Telstar Ponies and John Hogarty of BMX Bandits in the group Phantom Engineer, and with Stevie Jackson and Isobel Campbell of Belle & Sebastian in live performances and also in the studio; Wells recorded the Ghost of Yesterday album with Campbell, and Jackson played on Wells' Incorrect Practice album.[2]

During 2006 he received a Scottish Arts Council 'Tune Up' commission for a tour of Scotland.[3]

Discography

Stefan Schneider

Solo

With Phantom Engineer

With Future Pilot A.K.A.

The Bill Wells Trio

With Isobel Campbell

With Maher Shalal Hash Baz

With Tape

With Aidan Moffat

As Bill Wells & Friends

EP

External links

Notes and References

  1. Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Bill Wells", in The Great Indie Discography, Canongate,
  2. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r557351|pure_url=yes}} Incorrect Practice: Review ]. Jansen . Skip . AllMusic. 18 April 2010.
  3. Web site: Bill Wells: Biography . Scottish Arts Council . 18 April 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090924210858/http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/music/features/archive/artistbillwells.aspx . 24 September 2009 . dead .
  4. Web site: 'Nursery Rhymes' released on the Karaoke Kalk label. 30 November 2015.