Richard McQueen Wellstood was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Harold L. and May P. Wellstood on November 25, 1927. Wellstood graduated from Worcester School in Danbury, Connecticut, earned a bachelor of arts from New York University and a law degree from the New York Law School and he financed his education by performing music. Wellstood passed the New York bar examination in 1959 and practiced law for brief periods, but made the bulk of his living as a musician. Wellstood was an author, composer and arranger, and pianist who played popular music, show tunes and many styles of jazz. However, he was esteemed as a virtuosic interpreter of ragtime and stride piano in the tradition of James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Fats Waller. His professional music career began in the 1940s in New York City playing venues with Sidney Bechet and Roy Eldridge. Over the course of his career, Wellstood played numerous times with Kenny Davern and Bob Wilber. On a 1960 Hoagy Carmichael television special, Wellstood performed with Eubie Blake, Ralph Sutton, and Carmichael. Although Wellstood toured the world throughout his career, he was based in the New York City metropolitan area and was the house pianist at several Manhattan venues. Wellstood’s career peaked after the release of the film The Sting (1973) sparked popular interest in ragtime music. In 1984, Wellstood married Diane McClumpha, whose father Francis McClumpha was active in the New Jersey Jazz Society. Dick Wellstood died on July 27, 1987, while attending the “Peninsula Jazz Party” festival of jazz in Palo Alto, California.
From the guide to the The Dick Wellstood Collection, 1912-1995, (Rutgers University Libraries. Institute of Jazz Studies)
