The Jazz Community Remembers Ronnie Wells

[Lois Gilbert]

The Jazz Community Remembers Ronnie Wells
D.C.'s jazz community lost its matriarch when Ronnie Wells (pictured right) succumbed to lung cancer in March 2007. One of D.C.'s premier jazz vocalists, Wells began her career in the mid-60s when she started performing at clubs throughout the city. Over the course of her career, her music took her to festivals and around the world. In 1983, she accepted an appointment to the University of Maryland's music program, where she designed a jazz vocal program that was a rite of passage for the area's young jazz singers.

Along with her husband, pianist Ron Elliston, who was also on the faculty at Maryland, Wells became a mentor to many. Rehearsals and jam sessions were often held at their house in Wheaton and many a young musician, including a certain DCist jazz writer, spent many a memorable hour in their musical laboratory. Wells cemented her place among the most dedicated presenters of jazz in 1991 when she founded the Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund, an organization that grants scholarships to emerging musicians, conducts educational programs, and mounts the annual East Coast Jazz Festival. Friday night, some of the finest jazz musicians in the area gathered at The Music Center at Strathmore to pay heartfelt musical tribute to this memorable woman.

Traditional straight ahead jazz was the order of the day at last night's performance. Focusing on Wells' favorite standards, the musicians, who spanned generations in age, were in fine form. Performers included veteran drummers Paul Cunneff and Harold Mann, guitarist Paul Wingo, bassists Bhagwan Khalsa and Wes Biles, pianists Chris Grasso and Timo Elliston, saxophonists Paul Carr, Ron Kearns, and Grace Kelly, trumpet player Michael Thomas, and vocalists Janine Gilbert-Carter, Cheryl Ann Jones, and Kim Mills. The program also featured spoken tributes by friends, students, and colleagues of Wells.

There was a tender atmosphere in the hall, largely due to the sincere performances, despite some technical difficulties involving the house lighting. Highlights include the rendition of "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Kelly, a 15-year old wunderkind. A wheel chair bound Ron Kearns, a 30-year veteran of the Montgomery County Public School System, gave a passionate performance of "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," a favorite of Wells. Harold Mann brought a rarely seen sense of wit to his drumming that put smiles on everyone's faces. And of course, the evening would not have been complete without the vocalists, of whom Janine Gilbert-Carter stole the show.