Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
110910NSD.jpg
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Background information
Born (1958-10-13) October 13, 1958 (age 57)
Origin Tacoma, Washington
Genres free Jazz, Jazz, Free improvisation
Occupation(s) bassist
Instruments Bass guitar
Electric upright bass
Years active 1974 - present
Labels Ayler Records, MussoMusic, Red Toucan
Associated acts The Jair-Rohm Parker Wells Trio, The London Tourbillon, Machine Gun
Website http://jairrohm.wordpress.com/
Notable instruments
Steinberger Bass guitar, NSD electric double bass

Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells (born October 13, 1958) is an American Free improvisation bassist (bass guitar and electric upright bass), composer and conceptualist. He is one of the founding members of the improvising band Machine Gun which featured Thomas Chapin and the founder of the MEETING interdisciplinary arts festival (Stockholm, Sweden). He resided in Stockholm, Sweden from 1985 until 2010. Presently residing in Bangkok, Thailand, he has been active internationally as a promoter of improvised and experimental music performing and recording extensively. He has collaborated with Bob Belden, Karl Berger, Daniel Carter, Jaron Lanier, John Sinclair and Tony Scott among others.

Raised in southern Germany, Jair-Rôhm moved to New York in 1978. After touring the United States for a year with a top forty band he attended Tulane University in New Orleans. While at Tulane, he regularly performed with local jazz and rhythm and blues artists. He also performed as a member of Tulane University's Tulanians, met and studied with Richard Payne (the first person to record with the electric bass) and discovered the music of Harry Partch. He returned to the New York area in the fall of 1980 where he met and started work study under saxophonist/composer Ken Simon. During this period Jair-Rôhm also met Anthony Braxton and became involved in the study of his music. In 1982 Jair-Rôhm founded his own experimental music/theater group GLASS THOUGHT THEATER ENSEMBLE. Between 1982 and 1983 he was composer in residence at the New York Theater Ensemble (New York, N.Y.) where he wrote and produced a trilogy of progressive"operas". He received a MEET THE COMPOSER grant in 1983. From 1984 - 1985 he was resident in New Jersey where he continued composing and playing the bass. He was a founding member of the New Brunswick Jazz Musician's Collective (New Brunswick, N.J.) for which he composed and performed many significant works for various ensembles. Among some of the venues in which he has performed are: Vahdat Hall (Tehran, Iran), Xinghai Conservatory of Music (Guangzhou, China), Tribeca Performing Arts Center (New York, NY), Globen Arena (Stockholm, Sweden), Saxophone Jazz Pub (Bangkok, Thailand), Cafe Oto (London, England) and The Domicil Jazz Club (Munich, Germany).

On 13 August 2008 Jair-Rohm performed alongside Elliott Levin (sax, flute, poetry) & Robbie Knight (longcat - rhodes electric piano) on yr3wk9 of the longcat weekly improvisation in London.

On 15 November 2008 Jair-Rohm returned to the longcat weekly improvisation for yr3wk22 with Robbie Knight (longcat).

Partial discography[edit]

External links and references[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jair-Rôhm_Parker_Wells&oldid=726284186"