Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist. He was renowned for his extensive solo work; however, he was also remembered for his time playing with Count Basie's band during the early 1950s into the early 1960s. Critic Scott Yanow described him as one of the premier proteges of Lester Young, and a leading jazz flautist of his era—using the latter instrument to bring new colors to Basie's music.
Wess was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Since he was young, Wess grew up listening to music. His mother was one of his major influences as she would take him to watch performers like Roland Hayes and Ida Cox. While speaking to his father, who was a school principal in Oklahoma, on a separate occasion, he discovered that his mother had wanted him to become a musician for a long time. Up until that pivotal moment, Wess had viewed his interactions with his mother as bonding where she emphasized the importance of being aware of culture. Before realizing that jazz was his calling, he had other interests. To name a few, Wess aspired to be a cabinetmaker and then a dentist.
Wess grew up loving the saxophone, specifically the tenor and alto saxophone. He had asked his mother for one since he was young, and she would always tell him, "Wait till you're ten years old." He believed that this life truly started when he turned ten years old as that marked the start of his lengthy music career. Wess was drawn to the instrument as it was "closely related to the human voice." In his eyes, the saxophone was an instrument that was relatively easy to learn, but difficult to master. In an interview with the National Endowment for the Arts, he said, "...if you can play it, it sounds good, you know. Lots of instruments, you put a whole lot into it and it still doesn't sound too good." When he began playing the saxophone, he took influence from the sound of the horn.
Wess began with classical music training and played in Oklahoma in high school. He would travel around with the All-State High School Orchestra to perform. In 1935, Wess and his family moved to Washington, D.C. At this time, he had not been playing any longer as burnout had gotten the best of him, causing him to grow "tired of the music." Having that significant change in scenery revitalized and rekindled Wess's passion for playing music. During lunch time at his high school, students would host jam sessions in the orchestra. Billy Taylor was a student at his high school during that period of time. These sessions lit up that spark in Wess that made him start playing again. He experienced a shift in preferences as he opted to begin playing jazz. To be more specific, he played a big band style of jazz.
Living in Washington, D.C., put him in proximity to Baltimore, Maryland, a city that marked a turning point in his young career. During the summer of 1938, Wess performed at a club in Baltimore with a group called the Hardy Brothers. He had two opening numbers in the same week, which gave him a boost of confidence. The next week, he performed another opening number at the Royal Theater, which only gave him more confidence to keep going.
In 1941, Wess became a member of the U.S. Army. His ROTC bandleader had been recruiting eligible young people who could play music professionally. He would serve as an assistant bandleader that played a variety of music, including Viennese waltzes, vaudeville, classical, and marches. It was a 17-piece swing band, and they were sent to Africa in 1942. During that tour, they performed in Dakar, Casablanca, Monrovia, Tlemcen, and Algiers. During their first gig, they played for a group of Americans, Germans, and British. The highlight of Wess's time with the Army Band was accompanying Josephine Baker on tours for Allied troops.
Shortly upon returning from his time in the Army in 1944, Wess joined Billy Eckstine and his orchestra. They had known each other before Wess went off to the war. At one point, Wess went to go see Eckstine at the theater; during this interaction, Eckstine said, "look, my tenor player is going into the army. Come on with me." This interaction was fortunate for Wess, as this orchestra was legendary for being the first big band that played a new style of jazz known as bebop. Moreover, Billy Eckstine's Orchestra included pioneers for this new style of jazz: Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Howard McGhee, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Leo Parker, Tommy Potter, and Art Blakely. However, this stint did not last for long, as the orchestra disbanded in 1947.
As a result of the disbanding of the Billy Eckstine Orchestra, Wess would proceed to play with the orchestras of Eddie Heywood, Lucky Millinder, and Bull Moose Jackson. Like with Eckstine, these stints were also short-lived, as by 1949, Wess burned out again from the stress of being on the road for so much time. In addition, he was fed up with the maltreatment from society during this time due to his race. As a result, Wess would move back to Washington, D.C., to enroll at the Modern School of Music in pursuit of a Bachelor's of Music degree. During this time, he rediscovered the flute. In high school, Wess's orchestra teacher gave him a flute, but he did not have anyone to teach him how to properly play it. However, this school had teachers from the National Symphony Orchestra, offering him a chance to learn the flute.
Count Basie and the "New Testament" band
Because of Wess's time with Billy Eckstine, he had the opportunity to interact with Count Basie. Eckstine had recommended Wess to Basie, who tried recruiting Wess for several years. However, Wess consistently refused to join the band as he did not want to engage in long tours, which would force him to leave college – when, in the first place, he was attending college to expand his career options and avoid touring.
At the end of Wess's education, Basie called him and said he could help get Wess more exposure. Wess's only condition was that he needed a salary, and Basie agreed.
Wess played a pivotal role in the formation of Count Basie's orchestra as he recruited new musicians to the band: Thad Jones, Bill Hughes, Eddie Jones, Al Aarons, and Eric Dixon. Together, this group of legendary musicians formed Count Basie's "New Testament" band. Throughout the years, other musicians came and went. Wess's versatility as an artist allowed him to play the flute, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. Basie's leadership style was unorthodox as he never rehearsed with the band, but rather, he would just sit and listen. Wess and his fellow musicians were the ones who decided on the arrangements. However, this approach to leadership allowed Basie to be aware of everything. He would have an eye on everything and knew what was occurring in the musicians' personal lives. While many could not comprehend Basie's approach, this allowed the members of the band to truly get to know each other so they could stay around long enough so that it translated into cohesive music pieces.
During his time with Count Basie's band, Wess developed a close connection with Frank Foster. There was a lot of interplay between both of the musicians in the various performances, with the song "Two Franks" being their showpiece. Their collaboration and flourishing friendship displayed how Basie's leadership style had encouraged the musicians to form a deeper connection with each other.
When it came to instrumentation, Wess opted for the tenor saxophone and flute. This was critical in helping establish the swing in the orchestra's music, a component that Count Basie highly valued. For Wess, he felt that swing was important for anyone who wanted to play jazz. There had to be a constant pulse throughout the song. The musicians have to truly play together; they need to hear each other so that their instincts can help guide them on how to play next. Again, having that sort of connection points back to how Count Basie had led the band. In 1957, Wess willingly changed to playing the alto saxophone as the band had added Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis.