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Dick Wellstood & Cliff Jackson: Uptown and Lowdown
by David Rickert
Both Dick Wellstood and Cliff Jackson favor a style of jazz that today is seldom marketable-the pre-war stylings of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson. Occasionally this time of music becomes fashionable again, but frequently while being labeled traditionalists these artists assume the noble task of preserving jazz’s early years at the expense of wide acclaim. For these sessions, recorded at a time when Bird and Miles were the people’s choice, both artists wisely recruit veterans to assist them. Wellstood ...
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by Derek Taylor
Pairing purveyors of two distinct strains of traditional jazz this Fantasy two-fer is something of textbook study of the piano styles inherent in each. Cliff Jackson, the elder of the two, is representative of the first generation of Harlem Stride pianists. His group takes the disc’s final four cuts and contains several legends of the music’s fledgling years including brassman Ed Allen and banjoist Elmer Snowden. Dick Wellstood was part of the first trad jazz revival during the early 1940s ...
read moreDick Wellstood: Live at Hanratty's
by Dave Nathan
Originally a double LP, this CD reissue captures Dick Wellstood in a live performance at Hanratty's, once, but no longer, one of the prime venues to hear jazz piano. Wellstood is in terrific form here. One of the foremost stride pianists, he's in the same league with Luckey Roberts, Willie “The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson. His dazzling ornamental runs and arpeggios and advance harmonics and overall virtuosity stand up well with Art Tatum's. Wellstood served his apprenticeship with ...
read moreDick Wellstood: Dick Wellstood: Live At Hanratty's
by Mike Neely
The Chiaroscuro Jazz label has begun the worthy project of re-issuing a series of recordings by the pianist Dick Wellstood. Live At Hanratty’s is an excellent introduction to this much underrated pianist. It is a solo outing, from 1981, digitally re-mastered. Throughout, Wellstood demonstrates why Sidney Bechet recorded with him twice, and also why he was chosen, at different times, by Bob Wilber, Roy Eldridge, and Gene Krupa as a touring pianist. Wellstood’s mastery of traditional styles such as swing, ...
read moreDick Wellstood: Dick Wellstood Live at Hanratty's
by C. Michael Bailey
Art, Oscar, Dave, and Dick.. Hmmmm. Dick Wellstood is popping up everywhere nearly 13 years after his unfortunate death. The Arbor release Dick Wellstood Live at the Sticky Wicket was selected as one of the best jazz recordings of the 1990s. Al White, in his book Jazz Party devotes several pages to the pianist. And now this most excellent solo recital recorded in 1981 at the New York club Hanratty's. I count Wellstood in the same company as Art Tatum, ...
read moreDick Wellstood: Live at Hanratty's
by Dave Nathan
Originally a double LP, this CD reissue captures Dick Wellstood in a live performance at Hanratty's, once, but no longer, one of the prime venues to hear jazz piano. Wellstood is in terrific form here. One of the foremost stride pianists, he's in the same league with Luckey Roberts, Willie “The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson. His dazzling ornamental runs and arpeggios and advance harmonics and overall virtuosity stand up well with Art Tatum's. Wellstood served his apprenticeship with ...
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