A Tribute to Dick Wellstood

Three amazing performances by Dick Wellstood. The first is a solo from his amazing album "This is the One... Dig!" I recommend purchasing the album - Wellstood's amazing blend of the old and the new, the fast stride and the slow blues it captured at its best in the album. The second number is a solo from the a 1974 album with Kenny Davern. "So In Love" is played here with much passion. The final piece is an Edgar Sampson tune from the same album as the Mule Walk, and there is a transcription of the piece on sheetmusicplus.com under "Dick Wellstood Jazz Piano Solos." I highly recommend picking it up - top notch.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dick
• Wellstood
• Stride
• piano
• ragtime
• jazz
• james
• johnson
• scott
• joplin
• don
• ewell
• ralph
• sutton
• kenny
• davern
• mule
• walk
• if
• dreams
• come
• true
• so
• in
• love
• new
• orleans
• bebop

[mleeannwellstood]

I guess the upright is just a photo....not a piano that Dad actually played. I LOVE the photo of him with the acrylic glasses and his hair combed back. I've never seen it. Thanks!

[wilscool]

@mleeannwellstood Yeah, the upright pianos are not really connected to your father in any special way.  The pianos are actually Max Keenlyside's. He is a great friend of mine and a huge fan of you father as well. When I was putting the video together, it was hard to find photos of your father! So I used some pictures of Max's pianos to fill in some of the spaces. The photos of your dad were just about all of the ones I could find on Google Images.

[mleeannwellstood]

Thanks Will....this is beautiful. Brought tears to my eyes.

[wilscool]

@mleeannwellstood I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. He is definitely a hero of mine!

[BuckshotLaFunke1]

Such a fine jazz pianist. I read about him in Whitney Balliet's 'American Musicians' and I love his statement that in addition to Latin he wanted to learn German because Nietzsche made him laugh.

[DeborahLawrenceHale]

@mleeannwellstood My father, Craig Lawrence, was a great friend of your father when they were young The last time they saw each other, your dad was playing at the top of the World Trade Center and Dad was visiting me.

[leantext]

Another great Wellstood post. For me he stands head and shoulders above just about all other stride players past and present. Reading the comments from his daughter is like hearing from the child of God. I wish he covered all of the great stride tunes; if he did, I'm not aware.

[mleeannwellstood]

What is the significance of the upright piano?

[thatdamndean]

Nothing like seeing or hearing talented people!! Great music!

[KingRat355]

Great footage there. I have the CD and it comes with songs like Carolina, if dreams, Viper and the Mule Walk. I like his left hand because it is extremely clear and loud. He also makes it sound very live.