Jazz Trombonist ‘Dicky’ Wells, 78

William Wells, known to two generations of jazz fans as “Dicky” and best known for his lengthy and productive tenure as featured trombonist with Count Basie’s orchestra, has died of cancer.

Wells, 78, died Tuesday at Harlem Hospital.

He was born in Centerville, Tenn., and grew up in Louisville, Ky., where he was inspired by Jimmie Harrison, a trombonist who later starred in Fletcher Henderson’s band. Wells told his biographer, Stanley Dance, that he followed Harrison to New York in 1927 “because they like to swing there.”

Wells played in Henderson’s band before joining Basie for the first time in 1938.

Leonard Feather, in his “Encyclopedia of Jazz,” called Wells “an outstanding trombonist . . . gifted with a unique vibrato and dashing, sometimes humorous style. . . .”

In the 1950s and ‘60s, Wells was a favorite of audiences in Europe, particularly France, where he won many jazz polls. In Europe he played frequently with Buddy Tate, a saxophonist and another Basie veteran.

In the 1970s he and other Basie alumni formed a group called the Countsmen and performed in Manhattan nightclubs.