Policy Statement
This event is being organised by a local committee of musicians and jazz fans.Our aim is to promote jazz on the Isle of Wight. Members of the committee will not receive any financial reward. Inspected accounts will be made available on request.
The committee will cover the cost of the main venues and headline acts. This will be funded by sponsorship, ticket sales and other fund-raising activities.
Any subsequent profits will go towards funding future events.
We will encourage other performances during the period. However, we will not act as agents. It will be the responsibility of the performers and venues to negotiate between themselves.
double click to hide
Bobby Wellins
Robert Coull "Bobby" Wellins is a Scottish tenor saxophonist best known for his collaboration with Stan Tracey.
Born in Glasgow, Wellins studied alto saxophone and harmony with his father Max, and also played piano and clarinet during his early years. He subsequently joined the RAF as a musician playing tenor sax. After demobilisation he played with a few Scottish bands before moving to London in the mid-1950s. He was a member of Buddy Featherstonhaugh's quintet between 1956 and 1957, together with Kenny Wheeler. Around that time Wellins also joined drummer Tony Crombie's Jazz Inc., where he first met up with pianist Stan Tracey, going on to join Tracey's quartet in the early 1960s.
In the mid-1970s he led his own quartet with pianist Pete Jacobsen, bassist Adrian Kendon (replaced later by Ken Baldock, and then Andy Cleyndert in the 1980s) and drummer Spike Wells. In the 1980s he formed a quintet with fellow sax player Don Weller and then with guitarist Jim Mullen; the former group included Errol Clarke on piano, Cleyndert on bass and Wells on drums, while the latter featured Pete Jacobsen on piano. Since then Wellins has led various quartets, most notably with Liam Noble on piano, Simon Thorpe on bass and Dave Wickens on drums. Latterly he has renewed his association with drummer Spike Wells with a quartet featuring Mark Edwards on piano and Andrew Cleyndert on bass.
In 2012, Wellins was the subject of a documentary film, Dreams are Free, directed by Brighton-based director Gary Barber.
Last year Sparticus label released Bobby's "Culloden Moor Suite" recorded with the Scottish Jazz Orchestra to rave reviews.
Watch the Bobby Wellins Quartet play "Mad about the Boy"