Bill Wells
Musician
Profile
Bill Wells is a musician from Falkirk. He started out as a bass
player in Social Clubs during the late seventies and early eighties,
working in various cabaret bands in and around Central Scotland.
During the next decade he became more involved in the local jazz
scene, backing artists such as Bobby Wellins and Bruce Adams. In
1989 he formed the Bill Wells Octet, which went on to feature most
of Scotland's main jazz musicians as well as London based players
such as Steve Noble and Oren Marshall.
In 1995 he set up the label Loathsome Reels and released his first
CD; The Bill Wells Octet Live '93 - '94.
The following year he worked with trumpeter Harry Beckett at the
Glasgow International Jazz Festival winning the Scotrail Award for
best Scottish based performer.It was during this time that he met
Stephen Pastel who went on to introduce his music to a wider audience
and this in turn led to him working with band such as the Pastels
and Future Pilot AKA.
He has gone on to record for a number of different labels such
as Domino, Geographic, Leaf, Creeping Bent, Textile and Friends
and Relatives. He has either played or recorded with a diverse range
of Artists including Arab Strap,Lol Coxhill, Belle & Sebastian,
Annie Whitehead, David Tibet, Maher Shala Hash Baz, Jad Fair, V-
Twin, Norman Blake, Isobel Campbell, Kama Aina, Kid Loco, Chip Taylor
and Stefan Schnieder among many others.
Since 1999 he has been involved in the music of artworks with Nicola Atkinson Davidson.
