Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Encyclopedia
Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells is an American
free jazz
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
. Resident in Stockholm
, Sweden
since 1985, he has been active internationally as a promoter of improvised and experimental music
performing and recording extensively. He has collaborated with Karl Berger
, Daniel Carter
, Jaron Lanier
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.
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).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
(bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and electric upright bass), composer and conceptualist. He is one of the founding members of the improvising band Machine Gun
Machine Gun (band)
Machine Gun was an improvising band formed in New York City in 1986. Its members were: Robert Musso: guitars, Thomas Chapin: reeds and flute, John Richey: vocals, cut-ups, tapes, tv, Bil Bryant: drums, Jair-Rohm Parker Wells: basses...
which featured Thomas Chapin
Thomas Chapin
Thomas Chapin was an American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist. Though primarily an alto saxophonist, he also played sopranino saxophone and various flutes....
. Resident in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
since 1985, he has been active internationally as a promoter of improvised and experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
performing and recording extensively. He has collaborated with Karl Berger
Karl Berger
Karl Hanns Berger is a musicologist with a PhD in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz vibraphone and piano player.-Biography:...
, Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter (musician)
Daniel Carter is an American free jazz saxophone, flute, clarinet, and trumpet player active mainly in New York City since the early 1970s...
, Jaron Lanier
Jaron Lanier
Jaron Zepel Lanier is an American computer scientist, best known for popularizing the term virtual reality .A pioneer in the field of VR, Lanier and Thomas G. Zimmerman left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc., the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves...
and Tony Scott
Tony Scott (musician)
Tony Scott was a jazz clarinetist known for an interest in folk music around the world...
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
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
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
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
. 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
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
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.
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
- "Sympathy for the Donkey" with 3 Banditos (Klanggold)
- "AMDG" solo (Klanggold)
- "Exquisite Noise" solo (GTCGTC-Educational institutions:* Gateway Technical College* Green Templeton College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford* Greenville Technical College* Griffin Technical College* Gwinnett Technical College* Gnowangerup Training Center...
) - "Inside of Outside" with Cyndi Dawson (CD BabyCD BabyCD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
) - "Steamroom Variations " with Decision Dream (Red Toucan)
- "Meditations on Albert Ayler" with the Jair-Rohm Parker Wells Trio (Ayler RecordsAyler RecordsAyler Records is a record label which specializes in free jazz and improvised music recordings.Founded in 2000 in Sweden by Jan Ström and painter Åke Bjurhamn, it has gained recognition among free jazz fans over the years by releasing both archive and contemporary recordings from artists as diverse...
) - "Machine Gun" with Machine Gun (Musso Music)
- "Active Resonance" with Robert MussoRobert MussoRobert Musso is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, engineer, and producer. He is the founder of the independent record label MuWorks as well as the recently launched MussoMusic.com...
(Musso Music) - "Open Fire" with Machine Gun (Musso Music)
- "Pass The Ammo" with Machine Gun (Musso Music)
- "Personal Nuclear Device" with Doom Dogs (Musso Music)
- "The Prostitution Of Meritocracy" solo (ZH27)
- "Brotherly Love in Philadelphia" with the Jair-Rohm Parker Wells Trio (Ayler RecordsAyler RecordsAyler Records is a record label which specializes in free jazz and improvised music recordings.Founded in 2000 in Sweden by Jan Ström and painter Åke Bjurhamn, it has gained recognition among free jazz fans over the years by releasing both archive and contemporary recordings from artists as diverse...
)