Jair-Rohm Parker Wells is an American bassist, composer, programmer, conceptualist and record producer. A resident of Stockholm, Sweden since 1985, he is widely recognized as a highly individual voice on the electric bass guitar, Ashbory bass , Fichter electric double bass and acoustic bass guitar, he has also distinguished himself as a clinician (demonstrating at the Frankfurt Musik Messe and the Los Angeles NAMM show for Hohner and Steinberger), programmer and synthesist developing with Max/MSP, Csound and Java. As a record producer and composer he has collaborated with many of the more prominent names in the international art world such as Peter Kihlgård, Lydia Grey, Johannes Bergmark, Iris Lord, Magnus Alexanderson, Olaf Rupp and Reeves Gabrels. He is the recipient of commissions from prestigious institutions such as Stockholms Stadsteatern and New York's MEET THE COMPOSER. He currently produces and performs with spoken word artist Cyndi Dawson , and is featured as leader on recordings from Red Toucan Records ("Steamroom Variations") and Ayler Records ("Meditations on Albert Ayler").
Raised in southern Germany, Jair-Rôhm moved to New York in 1978. After touring the United States for a year with a top forty band he attended Tulane University in New Orleans. While at Tulane, he regularly performed with local jazz and rhythm and blues artists. He also performed as a member of Tulane University's Tulanians, met and studied with Richard Payne (the first person to record with the electric bass) and discovered the music of Harry Partch. He returned to the New York area in the fall of 1980 where he met and started work study under saxophonist/composer Ken Simon. During this period Jair-Rôhm also met Anthony Braxton and became involved in the study of his music. In 1982 Jair-Rôhm founded his own experimental music/theater group GLASS THOUGHT THEATER ENSEMBLE. Between 1982 and 1983 he was composer in residence at the New York Theater Ensemble (New York, N.Y.) where he wrote and produced a trilogy of progressive"operas". He received a MEET THE COMPOSER grant in 1983. From 1984 - 1985 he was resident in New Jersey where he continued composing and playing the bass. He was a founding member of the New Brunswick Jazz Musician's Collective (New Brunswick, N.J.) for which he composed and performed many significant works for various ensembles. He is also one of the original members of the legendary New York improvising band Machine Gun.
Some of the artists Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells has performed and /or recorded with include: Robert Musso, Tobias Schmitt, Karl Berger, Reeves Gabrels, Lost Boys, FIVE, Dr. Alban, Daniel Carter, Regina Belle, Max Martin, Jon Lord, Tony Scott, Marcus Heesch, Thomas Chapin, Charles Brakeen, Jonas Hellborg, Peter Sonntag, Luther Thomas, John "Jab'O" Starks, Steve Conte and the legendary Finnish band Kra.
