Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. He arranged music for Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson.
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Early life
Wilson was born in Shelby, Mississippi, and at the age of 16 moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he graduated from Cass Technical High School (one of his classmates was saxophonist Wardell Gray). He joined the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra in 1939, replacing its trumpeter and arranger, Sy Oliver. While with Lunceford, Wilson contributed songs to the band, including "Hi Spook" and "Yard-dog Mazurka", the first influenced by Ellington's recording of "Caravan" and the latter an influence on Stan Kenton's "Intermission Riff".
During World War II, Wilson also performed for a brief time with the U.S. Navy, with Clark Terry, Willie Smith and Jimmy Nottingham. Around 2005, many of the members of the band reunited as The Great Lakes Experience Big Band" with Wilson conducting. making a guest appearance at the invitation of Clark Terry. Wilson also played and arranged for the bands of Benny Carter.
Career
Wilson formed his own band, with some success in the mid-1940s. Wilson and His 20-Pc. Recording Orchestra performed at the twelfth Cavalcade of Jazz held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 2, 1956. Also performing that day were Dinah Washington, The Mel Williams Dots, Julie Stevens, Little Richard, Chuck Higgin's Orchestra, Willie Hayden & Five Black Birds, The Premiers, Bo Rhambo, and Jerry Gray and his Orchestra.
In 1960, he formed a Los Angeles-based band that began a series of critically acclaimed recordings for the Pacific Jazz label. His 1968 album California Soul featured a title track written by Ashford & Simpson, as well as a version of The Doors' hit "Light My Fire". Musicians in the band at various times included lead trumpeter Snooky Young, trumpet soloist Carmell Jones and saxophonists Bud Shank, Joe Maini, Harold Land, Teddy Edwards, and Don Raffell. The rhythm section included guitarist Joe Pass, Richard Holmes (organist), vibists Roy Ayers and Bobby Hutcherson, and drummers Mel Lewis and Mel Lee.
Wilson's wife of more than 50 years, Josefina Villasenor Wilson, is Mexican-American, and a number of his compositions showed his love of Spanish/Mexican themes, especially "Viva Tirado", which later became a hit for the rock band El Chicano. With his wife, Wilson had three daughters (Jeri, Lillian (Teri) and Nancy Jo), his son Anthony (who is the guitarist for Diana Krall), and a number of grandchildren, all of whom have songs composed for them—his compositions were often inspired by his family members.
Wilson continued leading bands and recording in later decades for the Discovery and MAMA labels. Recent musicians included Luis Bonilla, Rick Baptist, Randall Willis, Wilson's son-in-law Shuggie Otis and son Anthony Wilson (both guitarists); his grandson Eric Otis also played on such recordings. Wilson continued to record Spanish-flavored compositions, notably the bravura trumpet solos "Carlos" (named for Mexican matador Carlos Arruza, and recorded three times over the years, featuring trumpeters Jimmy Owens, Oscar Brashear, and Ron Barrows) and "Lomelin" (also named for a matador—Antonio Lomelin—and recorded twice, with solos by Oscar Brashear and Jon Faddis).
The National Endowment for the Arts named Wilson an NEA Jazz Master in 1990. In 1998 Wilson received a commission from the Monterey Jazz Festival for an original composition, resulting in "Theme for Monterey", which was performed at that year's festival. In later years, he formed orchestras on the West and East coasts, each with local outstanding musicians. He also made special appearances as guest conductor, including with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band (now the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra of New York), the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and European radio jazz orchestras, conducting the BBC Big Band in 2005. He hosted an innovative show, in the 1970s, on KBCA in Los Angeles, which was co-hosted by Dennis Smith, where he played "...music of the past, the present, and the future."
Death
Wilson died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on September 8, 2014, four days after his 96th birthday, after a brief illness that followed a bout of pneumonia, which had hospitalized him.
Awards and honors
1990 NEA Jazz Masters Award
1996 Library of Congress Gerald Wilson archive of his life's work
1997 American Jazz Award: Best Arranger and Best Big Band
2008 Monterey Jazz Festival Jazz Legends Award
2012 Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Los Angeles Jazz Society L.A. Jazz Treasure Award
Grammy nominations
Grammy Award-nominated and -winning singles or albums contributed to
Discography
As leader
1945–46 – The Chronological Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra, 1945-46 (Classics, 1998)
1946–54 – The Chronological Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra, 1946-54 (Classics, 2007)
1950–54 – Big Band Modern (The Jazz Factory, 2006) Contains the reissue of Big Band Modern (Audio Lab, 1959) plus a bonus of seven previously unisssued live tracks recorded 1950.
1961–69 – The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings (Mosaic, 2000 [5-CD boxset]) Contains all ten Pacific Jazz recordings listed below.
1961 – You Better Believe It! (Pacific Jazz, 1961)
1962 – Moment of Truth (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
1963–64 – Portraits (Pacific Jazz, 1964)
1965 – On Stage (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
1965 – Feelin' Kinda Blues (Pacific Jazz, 1966)
1966 – The Golden Sword (Pacific Jazz, 1966)
1967 – Live and Swinging (Pacific Jazz, 1967)
1968 – Everywhere (Pacific Jazz, 1968)
1968 – California Soul (Pacific Jazz, 1968)
1969 – Eternal Equinox (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
Lomelin (Discovery, 1981)
Jessica (Trend, 1982 [1983])
Calafia (Trend, 1984 [1985])
As co-leader/arranger
1961 – Les McCann, Les McCann Sings (Pacific Jazz, 1961)
1962 – Nancy Wilson, Broadway – My Way (Capitol, 1963)
1964 – Nancy Wilson, How Glad I Am (Capitol, 1964)
1964 – Les McCann & Gerald Wilson, McCann/Wilson (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
1965 – Julie London, Feeling Good (Liberty, 1965)
1965 – Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Sings Soulfully (Roulette, 1965)
1969 – Jean-Luc Ponty, Electric Connection (World Pacific, 1969)
As sideman
With Count Basie
The Count (RCA Camden, 1958)
Shoutin' Blues 1949 (Bluebird, 1993)
With Ray Charles
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (ABC-Paramount, 1962) also arranger
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two (ABC-Paramount, 1962) also arranger
With Buddy Collette
Man of Many Parts (Contemporary, 1956)
Buddy's Best (Dooto, 1958)
Polynesia (Music & Sound, 1959)
With Curtis Counce
Carl's Blues (Contemporary, 1960)
Sonority (Contemporary, 1989)
With Duke Ellington
Dance to the Duke! (Capitol, 1954)
Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia, 1959)
Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. (Columbia, 1960)
Piano in the Background (Columbia, 1962)
With Jimmie Lunceford
Lunceford Special (Columbia, 1956) reissued in 1967
The Chronological Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra 1939-1940 (Classics, 1991)