Gerald Wilson's Nancy Jo: Liner Notes (from album State Street Sweet)

The liner notes for State Street Sweet include these comments: “A Quiet Legend: Two years ago at the Monterey Jazz Festival, I was engaged in conversation with several colleagues. We were celebrating life, exchanging ideas, and reflecting on how lucky we were to be in a beautiful environment, communing with some of the giants of the jazz world.

“In mid-sentence, from across the room, I caught a glimpse of an unmistakable profile. There stood Gerald Wilson, confident, with the radiant air of a master craftsman who holds a great secret. I hadn't seen Gerald since Verona Jazz '86, but his broad smile and charismatic eyes signaled that, at 74, he continued to drink from the fountain of youth. While photographers clamored around lesser-credentialed “young lions,” Wilson stood in meditative concentration – a noble, dignified grand master of the art of jazz.

“'Hey, there's my man, Gerald Wilson!' I exclaimed, but the look on my colleagues' faces brought me to the sobering realization that they were unfamiliar with this great talent. Surprisingly, while he is heralded by many as a seasoned orchestrator, educator, and pillar of strength in the jazz community, there are still those who are unfamiliar with the genius of Gerald Wilson.

“I quickly educated my friends. After all, for the past fifty-one years Gerald has led one of the most dynamic, talent-laden big bands in the country. A chair in the Wilson Orchestra is a badge of honor in the jazz world. In fact, a list of the musicians who have passed through the band – including Teddy Edwards, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Pass, Harold Land, Oscar Brashear, Ernie Watts, Jack Wilson, Anthony Ortega, Jerome Richardson, Garnet Brown, Buddy Collette, Bobby Bryant, Paul Humphrey, Roy Ayers, George Duke, and more – reads like a Who's Who of major league improvisers.

“And Wilson stands as one of the great compositional innovators of our time. Trumpeter Mike Price once told me, 'Gerald is interested in creating new aspects of compositional form, rather than the stylized arrangements of older song form. Instead of a standard eight-bar bridge, he works at creating new relationships. The relationship from section to section and composition to composition is always subject to change; thus the listener and the players are always a little bit 'on the edge,' because something new and surprising is always just around the corner!'

“A true orchestrator, Wilson writes in a complex tonal fashion that embodies all of the raw energy, powerful force, and subtle finesse of its maker. Unlike many composers, Gerald doesn't limit himself to four and five note chords. Instead, he employs up to eight-note polytonality to create his rich harmonizations. Yet the most pervasive element in Wilson's music is its intense energy. It is that energy, coupled with his brilliant use of dynamics, and his complex, variegated compositional patterns that together produce his unmistakable sound.

“Interestingly, Wilson has never relied on outside composers or arrangers.¹ Gerald breathes through his music, and his compositions, life experience, and orchestra are all inexorably linked. Like Duke Ellington before him, he has his finger on the pulse of the African-American community. His music, rooted in passion and directly tied to the people, has always been relevant to the 'vibe' on the street. Accordingly, it has been embraced by artists as diverse as El Chicano, who scored a major pop hit with Wilson's 'Viva Tirado' in 1970, and Kid Frost, who more recently unveiled a rap version of this same Wilson classic.

“For Wilson, this collection represents a homecoming in many ways. Aside from reworking many of his classic compositions, he chose to record the session at the famed Capitol Studios, where years ago he had worked with Bobby Darin, Nancy Wilson, and many other talents. Gerald recalls that his band was among the first to record at this subterranean state-of-the-art facility way back in the '50s. 'The studio has always modernized with the continuing advent of new technology,' he ntoes, 'but it still brings back a lot of fond memories.

. . .

“The final selection, Nancy Jo, looks back to 1963² and the release of the classic 'Moment of Truth' album. Originally composed in 1957 for one of Wilson's three daughters, it harkens back to his seminal work with Lunceford and his compositions for the Basie band. Judging from the energy generated by this burner, Nancy Jo must have been a spunky, adventurous child. (Gerald assures me that she still is!) It features solos by Brian O'Rourke on piano, Tony Lujan on trumpet, Randall Willis on alto sax and Anthony Wilson³ on guitar.”

1Note the similarity to Duke Ellington and Benny Carter in this regard.

2Actually 1962.

3Gerald Wilson's son.

Gerald Wilson's Nancy Jo: Liner Notes (from Fresh Sound Records re-issue)

The liner notes from Fresh Sound Records' re-release of You Better Believe It! & Moment Of Truth read: “Composer, arranger and trumpeter Gerald Wilson has recorded big band albums of extraordinarily consistent brilliance throughout his remarkable and enormously long career. And those he made in the 1960s represent one of several peaks. On both You Better Believe It! And its worthy follow-up Moment of Truth, Wilson's writing is personal and uncluttered; he resists the temptation to deploy all his forces at once, building logically to climactic tutti passages, dealing mostly with blues and groovy originals. The orchestra, made up of top West Coast men, generates a strong drive, plays cleanly and precisely, and was blessed with fine soloists. Holmes is impressive with a big band shouting behind and around him. Carmell Jones, who is also heavily featured, shows he was a thinking young musician. But as good as them were Teddy Edwards, Walter Benton, Harold Land, Joe Maini, Jack Wilson, and guitarist Joe Pass, who plays stunningly in every one of his featured segments. Amid this wealth of jazz talent, though, Wilson's writing, particularly on Moment of Truth, remains the star of the show, with a harmonic sophistication that is never exercised at the expense of jazz virtues like groove, drive and swing.

“Gerald Wilson was born in Shelby on September 4, 1918, but spent little time there after reaching school age. His parents sent him to Memphis during the primary grade stage and later he was put on a train for Detroit where he attended Cass Technical High School and had musicians like tenor-man Sam Donahue and trombonist Bobby Byrne for classmates.

“Item: In 1939, at the age of 21, he replaced Sy Oliver with the Lunceford band, remaining until 1942. In 1944, he formed his own big band and for a time enjoyed heady success playing locations such as New York's Apollo Theater and the El Grotto in Chicago, the later for $3,900 a week. Contracted by Louis Jordan to play 13 weeks in a top theater circuit, he disbanded 'with a drawer full of signed contracts.'

“Why, with things going well and prospects getting better, did Wilson decide to quit? The answer was characteristic of the man.

“'I had to stop and study,' he explained reflectively in 1962 'And it was the best thing I ever did. If I had not, I wouldn't be where I am today.'”

Gerald Wilson's Nancy Jo: Liner Notes (from album Moment Of Truth)

Here are the original liner notes from Moment of Truth: “Jazz has never been noted for the prolonged success of its big bands. Most listeners know that they can number on their fingers the large aggregations that have existed for more than a year outside the recording studio. While the ones that have actually become fixtures in jazz and important to its history number only slightly more than half a dozen, all told. It is no less sorrowful to realize that the situation has gotten worse rather than better in recent years. In fact, it can safely be said that Gerald Wilson's Big Band, the musical efforts of which are here enclosed, is one of perhaps three distinctly new and sustainedly successful such organizations to emerge in the last 20 years!

“Gerald Wilson, the gentleman jazz trumpeter debuted this great new aggregation on record about a year ago in what is now a jazz classic album ('You Better Believe It!'). Rating 4 1/2 stars in Down Beat, and unanimous huzzahs from critics and fans alike throughout the world, it featured such soloists as Richard Holmes, Carmell Jones, Harold Land, and Teddy Edwards. The last three named, regular members of the band in the interim while it played numerous engagements in southern California, are back herein. Additionally, new soloists are in—altoist Bud Shank, guitarist Joe Pass, and pianist Jack Wilson. But much more importantly, Gerald Wilson's composing and arranging gifts are again excitingly on display. Whereas in the debut album the blues were stressed, the present recording finds Gerald more fully revealing the scope of his talents in settings varying from the blues to Latin, to the jazz ballad, and to swinging up-tempo selections of complex harmonic structure. 'The album,' Gerald points out, 'is called 'Moment of Truth!' because the band is now a reality—a truth, and this album is representative of that truth. We, its members and I, feel that it is a new band in the best sense of that term. We're a band that plays mostly original material in the contemporary jazz idiom—material written mostly for the band and material,' he stresses, 'by what I would call the really creative writers in jazz today.' Besides Wilson's own work, this album displays the largely unplumbed gifts of trombonist Lester Robertson, who Wilson feels is a 'fine jazz player, and a musician who really knows music.'

“ . . . Wilson is no newcomer to jazz. Besides arranging and playing for Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jimmy Lunceford, as well as other name bands, he led his own great big band in the early days of modern jazz and intermittently from then until about 1956, when the nucleus of the present organization began to take form. 'Guys like Lester Robertson and Teddy Edwards were a part of that band and are still with it,' he points out. For the most part the band has remained in the Los Angeles area where Wilson in addition to his jazz work has, like Benny Carter, become a highly successful composer and arranger for Television, Motion Pictures, and the Recording Studios. On occasion even acting roles himself, his more important musical credits include albums with Al Hibbler, Ray Charles (he has just completed a second album with Charles in New York), Nancy Wilson, and Les McCann, and musical directorship for TV and Movie items (such as The Ken Murray Spectacular). Several MGM films, and other NBC programs have also shown his work to good advantage.

“Because of its non-travelling policy in the past, the band has, of course, been able to avail itself of the cream of West Coast jazz talent. 'But,' says Wilson, 'this band is actually not dependent upon its soloists for its sound and style and interest.'¹ Although he pays the highest tribute to the excellence of his men, whom he feels could not be surpassed in overall artistry and musicianship, Wilson contends that 'this band has a nucleus of players and a book that makes the soloists, not the reverse. I think we have a distinctive sound, although I don't have any special musical devices, ensemble patterns, or instrumentation to achieve this intentionally. It's mostly in my writing and arranging, but again, even here I can't say what's going to come out when I sit down to put something together—that is, I don't have a preconception of how to get the band's sound into it.' Although Wilson is self-taught as a composer and arranger, he has studied the technical aspects of his trade rigorously. 'Nobody can say they have taught me how to write or orchestrate—I haven't studied with or under anyone—but that is not to say I haven't studied long and hard, on my own. I don't feel that my lack of formal training means that I am in any way limited in my approach to the job. In fact, I feel that now, after 25 years or so of experience and study, that I can do just about anything I set about in this field.'

“Regarding his band's goals and esthetic purposes, Wilson has this to say: 'While this is not a simple band and the harmony and structure of the material are advanced, the search is for simplicity—but not simpleness. After all, the band does show its versatility and artistry, I believe, in performing such numbers in the album, for example, as Josefina, Teri, and Emerge.' As Wilson suggests, these are not easy tunes but none is difficult for the sake of being difficult. This writer believes, with Wilson, that with the release of this album, 'there's no telling where this band can go. We're ready, but we're not gonna rush it. It's taken a long time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. You can't force somethin' like this and expect it to succeeed.

“'Both in life and music,' Gerald Wilson summed up, 'I search only for the truth. I once played the part of a jazz musician known as 'The Wailer' in a television drama,' he mused. 'I had the last lines of the play to speak. I can't forget them and as a matter of fact they're from the bible.' As he spoke these words in the living room of his Los Angeles home, Wilson crossed the room, picked up The Book itself and thumbed to the source of his play lines and then read them with seriousness: ''And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free'; that's my credo, and I think it'll see us through.'

“Listeners to the present recording can have little doubt of it.

“As for the selections . . . . Nancy Jo (another daughter) is 'medium up and crisp and somewhat reminiscent of another era,' observes Wilson. Carmell Jones has an excellent [trumpet] solo, perhaps his best on the album. He pauses at the bridge and [tenor saxophonist] Harold Land and the band enter briefly. Jones then finishes the chorus. Joe Pass [on guitar] solos brilliantly then, the band reentering on the second bridge and ploughing it home.”

1Contrast this with Ellington, who wrote specifically for the individual members of his orchestra, and whose pieces—when played best—call for emulation of the specific sounds of Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Cat Anderson, Jimmy Blanton, Ben Webster, etc.

Gerald Wilson's Nancy Jo: Overview Of Major Recordings

Gerald Wilson wrote tunes named for each of his children, and Nancy Jo, of course, is one of his daughters. The original arrangement of this fast twelve-bar blues variation was recorded in 1962 on Wilson's album Moment Of Truth, which is one of his orchestra's classic “middle period” albums from the Pacific Jazz label; many consider this era to be the peak of his arranging and recording career. That is the arrangement that the Essentially Ellington program has issued this year, and that the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra played during the Essentially Ellington 2013 evening concert. That said, Wilson has recorded this tune at least twice since then. Wilson's back catalogue includes a much faster 2003 recording from Wilson's New York New Sound, as well as a 1995 recording from Wilson's State Street Sweet. The 2003 recording features not only a faster tempo but also much-extended solo sections, which should suffice to make clear that neither the original pace nor the original solo sections are sacrosanct. The 1995 recording tears through the tune at the same breakneck speed, but does not open up the solo sections. Bear in mind that these are new, modern recordings from a man who was writing and arranging for the major big bands of the 1930's. The breadth and endurance of Wilson's career—which is still ongoing—is absolutely staggering.

Gerald Wilson's Dissonance In Blues

Dissonance In Blues has the same dense clusters of reed harmonies that one would expect from Ellington, and the same sort of melodic bass playing (both with bow and without!) that Jimmy Blanton (dead by the time Wilson made this recording) was the progenitor and chief exponent of. It might not be going too far to describe this as a sort of bastard child sired by a dirge blues (a la Black And Tan Fantasy) and the sort of bass-ensemble exchanges that were nowhere better exemplified than in Jack The Bear. The dynamics are also very dramatic in this chart, including some sudden forte intrusions by the brass followed by instantaneous retreats into pianissimo by the reeds (which form a bed of tones over which the bass speaks). This is a real workout in the softer dynamic range for the reeds, and a real workout in melodic playing for the bass. Have fun!

I believe that the only recording ever made of this chart is found on Gerald Wilson: The Chronological Classics: 1946-1954.

Gerald Wilson: A Great Lunceford LP Set

If you want to hear Gerald Wilson's earliest recordings from the late 1930s with the Jimmie Lunceford band, here's a great boxed set of LPs that has several sides filled with them.  Tracks 31 on all include Wilson on trumpet.

Jimmie Lunceford
The Complete Jimmie Lunceford
1939-40
CBS Special Products CBS 66421 CB 234
CBS 54131
Side 1
Jimmie Lunceford And His Orchestra
Eddie Tompkins, Tommy Stevenson, Sy Oliver (trumpets), Russell Bowles, Henry Wells (trombones), Willie Smith, Joe Thomas, Earl "Jock" Carruthers (reeds), Eddie Wilcox (piano), Al Norris (guitar), Moses Allen (bass), Jimmy Crawford (drums).
New York, May 15, 1933.
1. Flaming Reeds And Screaming Brass (2'55)
2. While Love Lasts (3'06)
Eddie Tompkins, Sy Oliver, Paul Webster (trumpets), Elmer Crumbley, Russell Bowles, James "Trummy" Young (trombones), Willie Smith, Ted Buckner, Dan Grissom, Joe Thomas, Earl Carruthers (teeds), Eddie Wilcox (piano), Al Norris (guitar), Moses Allen (bass), Jimmy Crawford (drums).
New York, January 3, 1939.
3. Rainin' (2'58)
4. 'Tain't What You Do (3'04)
5. Cheatin' On Me (2'49)
6. Cheatin' On Me (2'46) alternate take
7. La Jazz Hot (2'41)
8. La Jazz Hot (2'44) alternate take
9. Time's A-Wastin' (2'32)
10. Time's A-Wastin' (2'32) alternate take
Side 2
New York, January 31, 1939.
11. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home (2'51)
12. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home (2'50) alternate take
13. You're Just A Dream (2'51)
14. The Lonesome Road (2'31)
15. You Set Me On Fire (2'38)
16. I've Only Myself To Blame (2'45)
17. What Is This Thing Called Swing? (2'26)
18. What Is This Thing Called Swing? (2'28) alternate take
CBS 54132
19. Mixup (2'18)
20. Shoemaker's Holiday (2'50)
21. Blue Blazes (2'50)
New York, April 7, 1939.
22. Mandy (2'52)
23. Easter Parade (2'40)
24. Ain't She Sweet? (2'27)
25. White Heat (2'20)
New York, May 17, 1939.
26. Oh Why, Oh Why (2'49)
Side 4
27. Well, All Right Then (2'42)
28. Well, All Right Then (2'42) alternate take
29. You Let Me Down (2'52) unissued
30. I Love You (2'46)
Gerald Wilson (trumpet) replaces Sy Oliver.
New York, August 2, 1939.
31. Who Did You Meet Last Night? (2'35)
32. You Let Me Down (2'46)
33. Sassin' The Boss (2'43)
34. I Want The Waiter (With The Water) (2'43)
35. I Used To Love You (But It's All Over Now) (2'45)
New York, September 14, 1939.
36. Belgium Stomp (2'29)
CBS 54133
Side 5
37. You Can Fool Some Of The People (Some Of The Time) (2'21)
38. Think Of Me, Little Daddy (2'42)
39. Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away) (2'37)
Eugene "Snooky" Young (trumpet) replaces Eddie Tompkins.
New York, December 14, 1939.
40. Put It Away (2'40)
41. I'm Alone With You (2'37)
42. Rock It For Me (2'38)
43. I'm In An Awful Mood (2'46)
44. I'm In An Awful Mood (2'45) alternate take
45. Wham (Re Bop Boom Bam) (2'53)
46. Wham (Re Bop Boom Bam) (2'51) alternate take
Side 6
47. Pretty Eyes (2'40)
48. Uptown Blues (2'43)
49. Lunceford Special (2'49)
New York, January 5, 1940.
50. Bugs Parade (2'29)
51. Blues In The Groove (2'33)
52. I Wanna Hear Swing Songs (2'54)
53. It's Time To Jump And Shout (2'53)
Los Angeles, February 28, 1940
54. What's Your Story, Morning Glory? (3'09)
55 & 56. Dinah (Part I/Part II) (4'28)
CBS 54134
Side 7
57. Sonata By L. Van Beethoven ("Pathétique", Op. 13) (3'16)
Chicago, May 9, 1940.
58. I Got It (2'55)
59. Chopin's Prelude No. 7 (2'49)
60. Swingin' On C (2'22)
61. Swingin' On C (2'23) alternate take
62. Let's Try Again (3'03)
63. Monotony In Four Flats (2'53)
New York, June 19, 1940.
64. Barefoot Blues (2'43)
65. Minnie The Moocher Is Dead (2'28)
Side 8
66. I Ain't Gonna Study War No More (2'55)
67. Pavanne (2'48)
New York, July 9, 1940.
68. Whatcha Know, Joe? (2'37)
69. Red Wagon (2'32)
70. You Ain't Nowhere (2'54)
71. Please Say The Word (2'39)
New York, December 23, 1940.
72. Okay For Baby (3:07)
73. Flight Of The Jitterbug (2'28)
74. Blue Afterglow (3'11)

Gerald Wilson: Biography

From the liner notes to Gerald Wilson And His Orchestra: The Chronological Classics: 1946-1954: “Gerald Stanley Wilson was born in Shelby, Mississippi, on September 4, 1918. Both his parents were musicians. He began on piano with some tuition from his mother. Wilson attended school in Memphis before his family moved to Detroit. He went to Cass Technical College and received an extensive musical education. Besides being a gifted trumpet player and an outstanding arranger, Gerald Wilson also plays tenor and alto saxophone. In 1936/37, he worked at the “Plantation Club” in Detroit and also toured with Chic Carter's band. In late 1939, Gerald Wilson replaced Sy Oliver in Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra¹ where he remained until early 1942. . . . He then moved to the West Coast, where he worked with Les Hite, Phil Moore and Benny Carter. At that time and over the coming years, Gerald Wilson was also active as a composer and arranger for movie soundtracks. After a spell in the U.S. Navy, he organized his own big band in late 1944, from the beginning featuring young and progressive musicians. Wilson continued to lead his own big band on and off over the next decades but often took time out to compose, arrange and play with other leaders, including Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. His reputation among experts grew over the years and his recordings from the early sixties were artistically very successful. In 1963, his band was elected Number 1 by “Down Beat”, resulting in long-overdue recognition from a wider audience. Throughout the sixties and seventies, Wilson also arranged frequently for singers, including Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald. In addition, he composed several extended symphonic works, which deserve to be better known. Besides ongoing studio-work, Gerald Wilson still [as of June, 2007] leads his own band in appearances at festivals and on shorter tours to this day.”

No less an eminence than Gunther Schuller will grant pardon if you are less familiar with Wilson than with Ellington; in discussing the conceptual heirs to Duke Ellington's advanced arranging techniques in Cotton Tail, Schuller mentions “such now almost forgotten bands as Gerald Wilson's, Elliot Lawrence's, and Charlie Barnet's mid-1940 orchestras.” (Schuller, The Swing Era 126). So there you go. Wilson, a contemporary of Duke Ellington and Benny Carter, is still alive today and still writing, arranging, and directing bands—you can see him directing bands at regional jazz festivals all over the country on YouTube! Wilson worked as a trumpet player and arranger for Jimmie Lunceford during the 1930's (see Schuller, The Swing Era 218-19) before embarking on a career as an arranger for a variety of artists, playing for the U.S. Navy during World War II, and forming his own band in the mid-1940's. He later formed a Los Angeles-based band in the 1960's and has since written for, performed with, and directed countless groups over the years. In 2006, Wilson directed Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in performances of his own material. At present, Gerald Wilson has been actively engaged in the forefront of jazz music for 75 years (excluding his years as a teenager learning to play, which would put him at over 80 years of continuous jazz musicianship). That is a record equaled only by Benny Carter (who had about a dozen year lead on Wilson) and maybe Clark Terry. Note also that Wilson, just like Carter, was one of those rare musicians competent on both brass (trumpet in the case of both men, trombone as well in the case of Carter) and reeds (alto sax in the case of both men, tenor as well in the case of Wilson).

1If you want to hear the section work of the very young Gerald Wilson, I recommend a 4-LP boxed set, Jimmie Lunceford: The Complete Jimmie Lunceford 1939-40. In that set, all of the recordings from Track 31 (Side 4, Track 5) include Gerald Wilson on trumpet. Wilson's first session with Lunceford was New York, August 2, 1939.