National Jazz Trio Of Scotland; Bill Wells - Christmas Album

The National Jazz Trio of Scotland has never really been a trio. Nor has Bill Wells’ cheekily-monickered combo ever played jazz in the conventional sense. With a first album of original material – the waggishly christened Standards Volume Two – imminent, Wells and his reconvened NJT play DIY promoters Tracer Trails' Christmas shindig to showcase a more vocal-based direction, courtesy of Golden Grrrls singer Lorna Gilfeather and Findo Gask/François and the Atlas Mountains vocalist Gerard Black. ‘It started off as one thing and became something else,’ Wells says of the NJT’s metamorphosis. ‘There’s never any definite idea of what we’re doing, and it becomes what it becomes.’ With his high-profile collaboration with Aidan Moffat ongoing, the Tracer Trails bill will also feature Pianotapes, Wells’ collaboration with Stefan Schneider of German electronicists To Rococo Rot, and Belle & Sebastian guitarist Stevie Jackson, who Wells may also end up playing with. CD, Album