Gerald Stanley Wilson is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

/arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, 8 time Grammy nominee, and educator. He has been based in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 since the early 1940s.

Wilson was born in Shelby, Mississippi

Shelby, Mississippi

Shelby is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,926 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Shelby is located at ....

, and went on to graduate from Cass Technical High School

Cass Technical High School

The Cass Tech Technicians football team is a high school football program in Division 1 Public School League, representing the prestigious Cass Technical High School in Detroit, MI. Cass Tech High School has long been recognized nationwide for its extraordinary football program dating back to its...

 in Detroit. Wilson joined the Jimmie Lunceford

Jimmie Lunceford

James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...

 orchestra in 1939, replacing its star trumpeter and arranger Sy Oliver

Sy Oliver

Melvin "Sy" Oliver was a jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader...

. While with Lunceford, he contributed numbers to the band's book, including "Hi Spook" and "Yard-dog Mazurka," the latter being a big influence on Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

's recording "Intermission Riff."

World War II

During World War II, Wilson also performed for a brief time with the U.S. Navy, with musicians such as Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

, Willie Smith and Jimmy Nottingham, among others. Recently (~2005), many of the members of the band reunited as "The Great Lakes Experience Big Band," with Wilson conducting and Ernie Andrews making a guest appearance at the invitation of Clark Terry.

Big band years

Wilson originally started out as trumpeter and arranger for Jimmie Lunceford. He has also played and arranged for the bands of Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.

Wilson formed his own band, with some success, in the mid-1940s. In 1960, Wilson formed a Los Angeles-based band that began a series of superb recordings for the Pacific Jazz label. Musicians in the band at various times included lead trumpeter Snooky Young

Snooky Young

Eugene Edward "Snooky" Young was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known for his mastery of the plunger mute, with which he was able to create a wide range of sounds.-Biography:...

, trumpeter Carmell Jones, saxophonists Harold Land

Harold Land

Harold de Vance Land was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. Land developed his hard bop playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown band into a personal, modern style. His tone was strong and emotional, yet displayed a certain fragility that made him easy to...

, Don Raffell

Don Raffell

Don Raffell was an American saxophonist, woodwind doubler, studio musician and educator. Raffell recorded on hundreds of records, movies, and T.V shows dating from the 1940s all the way through the 1990s...

 and Teddy Edwards

Teddy Edwards

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...

, guitarist Joe Pass

Joe Pass

Joe Pass was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century...

, vibists Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...

 and Bobby Hutcherson, and drummers Mel Lewis

Mel Lewis

Mel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....

 and Mel Lee. His wife of over fifty years, Josefina Villasenor Wilson, is Mexican-American. A number of Wilson's compositions showed his love of Spanish/Mexican themes, especially "Viva Tirado," which later became a hit for the rock band El Chicano

El Chicano

El Chicano is an American chicano rock and brown-eyed soul group from Los Angeles, California, whose style incorporates various modern music genres including rock, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and salsa...

. Along with his wife, Wilson has three daughters (Jeri Teri and Nancy Jo), his son Anthony (who is guitarist for Diana Krall

Diana Krall

Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...

), and a number of grandchildren, all of which have songs composed for them.

Wilson has continued leading bands and recording in the ensuing decades. Recent musicians have included his son-in-law Shuggie Otis

Shuggie Otis

Shuggie Otis is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist....

 and son Anthony Wilson, both guitarists; Gerald's grandson, Eric Otis, has also played on such recordings. Wilson has continued to record Spanish-flavored compositions, notably the bravura trumpet solos "Carlos" (named for Mexican matador Carlos Arruza

Carlos Arruza

Carlos Arruza , born Carlos Ruiz Camino, was one of the most prominent bullfighters of the 20th century. He was known as "El Ciclón" ....

, and recorded three times over the years, featuring trumpeters Jimmy Owens, Oscar Brashear

Oscar Brashear

Oscar Brashear is an American jazz trumpeter and session musician.After studying at DuSable High School he worked briefly with Woody Herman before going on to join Count Basie '68-9, returning to freelance in Chicago with Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon and James Moody...

, and Ron Barrows) and "Lomelin" (also named for a matador—Antonio Lomelin—and recorded twice, with solos by Oscar Brashear and Jon Faddis

Jon Faddis

Jon Faddis is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator renowned for both his highly virtuosic command of the instrument and for his expertise in the field of music education...

). In 1998, Wilson received a commission from the Monterey Jazz Festival

Monterey Jazz Festival

The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...

 for an original composition, resulting in "Theme for Monterey," which was performed at that year's festival.
In recent years, Wilson has formed orchestras on the West and East coasts each with local outstanding musicians. He also makes 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 including the BBC Big Band

BBC Big Band

The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band run under the auspices of the BBC. Widely regarded as the UK’s leading and most versatile jazz orchestra, the band broadcasts exclusivley on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long running series Big Band Special...

.

Composer, arranger, educator

In addition to leading his band, Wilson has written arrangements for others including Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Julie London

Julie London

Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

, Benny Carter

Benny Carter

Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...

, Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

, Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...

, and Nancy Wilson to name a few.

He was host of his own jazz show in the 1970s on the old jazz radio station KBCA in Los Angeles.

Wilson has been a member of the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, for many years, recently winning (late in his eighth decade!) a "teacher of the year" award. He also served on the faculty at California State University, Northridge in the 1970s where he taught Jazz History to wide acclaim among the student body and has also taught at Cal Arts in Los Angeles. He currently "retired" from UCLA but will continue to contribute his vast knowledge and experience as a living "jazz legend" at UCLA and wherever his musical journey takes him.

In February 2006, Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...

 and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra performed his music with Mr. Wilson conducting.

In June 2007, Wilson returned to the studio with producer Al Pryor and an all-star big band to record a special album of compositions originally commissioned and premiered at the Monterey Jazz Festival for the festival's 50th anniversary. Wilson had helped lead celebrations of the Monterey Jazz Festival's 20th and 40th anniversary with his specially commissioned works (1998's grammy nominated album Theme for Monterey). The album, Monterey Moods was released on Mack Avenue Records in September 2007.

In September 2009, Wilson conducted his eight movement suite "Detroit" commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival in honor of its 30th anniversary. The work includes a movement entitled "Cass Tech" in honor of his high school alma mater.

Discography

• Detroit (2009)
• Monterey Moods (2007)
• In My Time (2005)
• State Street Sweet (MAMA 1010)
• New York, New Sound (Mack Avenue MAC 31009 + MAC 1019)
• The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings of Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra (Mosaic MD5-198)
• The Artist Selects: Gerald Wilson (Blue Note 31439)
• Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra 1946-1954 (Classics 1444)
• Love You Madly (Discovery DSCD-947)
• Suite Memories (MAMA 1014)
• Theme for Monterey (MAMA 1021)

External links

• The Legacy of Gerald Wilson - Panel Discussion on Detroit JazzStage - Jazz Extras
• "Twelve Essential Gerald Wilson Recordings" by Jeff Sultanof
• "Track Listing, Personnel & Recording Dates for The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings of Gerald Wilson" at Mosaic Records
• Interview by Jason Crane (Part 1) from The Jazz Session Podcast Series
• Interview by Jason Crane (Part 2) from The Jazz Session Podcast Series