Giant Strides

Book excerpt: Dick Wellstood first became prominent as a teenager in Bob Wilber's "Wildcats," where his stride-style solos brought him to the forefront of the jazz world. In the following decades he became a regular fixture at the premiere jazz clubs in New York and toured Europe to critical acclaim. Not only was Wellstood an expressive musician, but he was a literate and articulate writer as well. His articles and letters were published in Downbeat, Jazz Journal International, Sounds and Fury, and Jersey Jazz. He wrote liner notes for many albums which reveal not just his intelligence but his sharp sense of humor. Outside of the music world, Wellstood was a law student who taught himself Latin and German. Drawing upon Wellstood's unpublished personal correspondence and the recollections of his family, friends, and fellow musicians, Giant Strides explores the personality of this talented musician and intriguing man. Meyer's own writing and interviews with Wellstood himself, as well as Kenny Davern, Marty Grosz, Dick Sudhalter, Joe Muranyi, and Dan Morgenstern bring Wellstood to life in this vivid book.