Wells Hanley

Bio:

My earliest memory as a child was falling asleep listening to the sound of my heartbeat echoing in my pillow. In my half-asleep state, the rhythmic pulsing would morph into the footsteps of a small group of camels. I would watch them from a bird's eye view. Though they were crossing a great desert on the other side of the world, their arrival was certain. There was a sense of immediacy I felt whenever I would see them. As consistent as the beats of my heart, their footsteps would bring them closer at each instant. I knew that they were coming for me, and that one day they would arrive. Decades have passed and now their arrival feels more imminent than ever.

Member Since:

September 17, 2005

Members:

I play with lots of musicians. I enjoy lending my talents to help others realize their artistic goals. The more experience I get, the less interested I become in commercial success and the more fulfillment I get from the process of creation for its own sake. I am a pianist and musical director to about twenty cabaret singers in New York City. I play keys and sing backup with Jesse Harper and Lydia Ooghe and drums with Dean Fields and Matt Wyatt in VA. I am a jazz pianist and a rock songwriter. I am an educator and teach private lessons as well as classes at Virginia Commonwealth University and at University of Virginia. I am deeply interested in psychology, and particularly the ideas of Carl Rogers and Carl Jung. I have studied classical piano and love Chopin, Bach, Prokofiev, and Messiaen. I have an album coming out this August (2010): a collection of songs called "camels are coming". Some of my best friends and favorite musicians will be joining me: Brian Griffin, Matt Wyatt, Curtis Fye, Trey Pollard, Sam Wilson, Brian Chenault, Jesse Harper, Ann Marie Calhoun, Andrew Gabbert, James McLaughlin. In addition to my own project, I have EP's and/or albums coming out this fall with Dean Feilds, Lydia Ooghe and Lux Vacancy, Schuyler Fisk, Brian Jones Quintet, Brian Jones Piano Trio, Parker Scott, Hope Harris, and Sam Savage.

Influences:

carl rogers, carl jung, thelonious monk, jimmy webb, the white album, fred hersch, jeff tweedy, abe laboriel, andy bey, paul simon, giant sand, louis jenkins, brahms, messiaen, paul bley, randy newman, tim burton, cat stevens, chopin, ravel

Sounds Like:

TASTY TREATS (w/ Andrew Kirk and Pete Spaar):