Read part 1.
Gerald Wilson Orchestra at Shepp’s Playhouse
Among the excellent musicians who played with Wilson, Melba Liston played trombone and wrote arrangements. He encouraged and mentored her. She wrote the arrangement of “Love Me a Long, Long Time with Estelle Edson and composed Warm Mood. (This was one of the earliest recordings produced by Norman Granz, released on the Black & White label).
The band started touring extensively and was very popular; a highlight was a performance at the Apollo Theater. When appearing in Chicago, Wilson was offered a contract to make records for Mercury Records, then a small label that was starting to attract major acts. Wilson made a record date with one of their stars, Dinah Washington.
As noted in the previous part in this series, Wilson was always experimenting harmonically. Listen to his unusual blues where he uses alternate harmonies. It’s called The Saint.
Then Wilson did the unthinkable — he disbanded.
In his first years in Los Angeles, he’d befriended the brilliant composer/arranger/pianist/vocal coach Phil Moore, and made several dates with him at M-G-M studios, where Moore worked in obscurity. No doubt his conversations with Moore influenced his decision to stop everything because things in his life were happening too fast. He wanted to be a more well-rounded composer of music, able to write in any style with confidence, and that meant more music study.
But that didn’t mean that he was going to drop out of the music world. He played on record dates with Moore, Ike Carpenter, Jesse Price, and Freddie Slack.
And he continued to make recordings. Here is Dissonance in Blues. The bassist is Red Callender.
Duke Ellington called him soon after and offered him work writing two sides, one of which was You’re Just an Antidisestablishmentarianismist.
For Dizzy Gillespie’s band, he wrote Guarachi Guaro, one of the most important Latin/Bop compositions of the period.
Gerald got a call from Count Basie, whom he’d known when he was playing in Detroit. He wound up joining the trumpet section and writing a great deal for him, including a suite for a Carnegie Hall concert. Regrettably, it was not recorded.
Here is Katy and Cheek to Cheek.
Part III will present his work during the 1950s and his classic 1960’s band.
