Annie Wells

Annie Wells lives in a house under the shade of trees at the foot of Pinnacle Hill in Rochester, New York. On the second floor of that house, she writes songs on a 1903 Chickering standard grand piano. Jeff Spevak of Gannett newspaper says that she has “one of the nicest singing voices around” and the late, great Chuck Cuminale said her voice “is amazing”. But Annie Wells is more than just another pretty voice; she has a passion for creating songs that travel both to the dark places of the heart and to the light of hope."Tell Me", Annie’s 4th independently released CD, includes 13 original songs, all written by Annie except “I’ll Guide Your Sweetest” Dreams” which was written by Phillip Marshall. Tell Me will first be available during Annie’s debut performance at the Little Theatre on Monday, July 6th.Annie grew up listening to Keith Jarrett, Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Laura Nyro, to name a few. On her new CD, the jazz influences are clear. Some have called Annie’s music a hybrid; not exactly jazz, not exactly pop – think “Nora Jones with an edge” perhaps. The songs needed jazz players so Annie recruited Eastman School of Music grads, Dave Tedeschi on drums, Jesse Breheney on upright bass and Wes Smith on tenor sax. Ed Marris played a 1958 Sonola accordion on “Little Sparrow”. Phillip Marshall, longtime friend, sideman and fellow songwriter played guitar on several tracks. Finally, Annie chose to work with the superb recording engineer, Steve Forney at the Studios at Linden Oaks. The result is “a recording I am so proud of “, Annie says, “All of the talented people involved in 'Tell Me' made my vision for these songs come together in a beautiful way”.Annie's CD's are available for purchase at www.anniewells.com