CHRIS BACKLEY Jazz History Professor Gerald
Wilson plays the piano between classes in Dickson. Wilson
has been in the jazz scene for 50 years.
By Lisa Klassen
Daily Bruin Contributor
Behind the eyes of Gerald Wilson, a jazz history professor in
the Ethnomusicology Department, are more than 50 years of
performing with legendary jazz musicians and his own orchestra,
five Grammy nominations, and several years of teaching.
Throughout his career, Wilson played with and composed for jazz
giants such as Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.
According to Wilson’s students, his musical career and
knowledge greatly enhance the meaning of his class, Jazz
History.
“With Gerald Wilson, you get a sense of history,”
said Cameron Graves, a first- year ethnomusicology student.
“When he talks, it’s not just like a lecture.
It’s like you’re living it all over again with
him.”
Others, like Ben Adamson, a first- year ethnomusicology student,
respect the knowledge Wilson shares with his class.
“We’re getting information from a cat who’s
been there,”Adamson said. “Since he’s lived
though jazz, everything we learn seems more real.”
That he is a musician also makes what he says about jazz very
important, Adamson said.
For the past six years, Wilson has taught jazz history through
the ethnomusicology department.
Despite possessing a great amount of knowledge and a deep
respect for his music, Wilson can at times be difficult to
understand, according to his students.
“He’s really vague,” said Graves. “Being
a jazz musician, that’s not surprising. Since he’s an
old cat, he doesn’t really describe anything in detail. But
that’s part of jazz. Jazz is all about feeling the
music.”
Wilson’s career began when his mother, a pianist,
introduced him to the instrument.
“When I was a kid, my mom started me on piano,”
Wilson said. “But she didn’t play jazz ““ only
church music and school music.”
But it was Wilson’s older brother who introduced him to
the world of jazz by sharing his records with him.
“My brother was a jazz aficionado with many jazz
records,” Wilson said. “He would play them for me and
tell me about them. That’s when I fell in love with
jazz.”
His love for music led him to experiment with jazz sounds on the
trumpet, an instrument he began to play by the time he was 11.
During this time, Wilson was taking lessons from a local teacher in
Memphis, Tenn., and participating in school music groups.
In 1934, Wilson moved to Detroit, Mich. to attend a technical
school with a strong music program. For more than six hours a day,
Wilson studied performance and composition, while playing
locally.
It was at this point in his life that Wilson made many important
contacts.
“I had a lot of mentors,” Wilson said. “I met
someone in each band who would help me with writing music and
playing.”
Wilson’s big break came in 1939, when he joined the Jimmie
Lunceford Band as a trumpet player, according to a MAMA Records
company biography of him.
By 1941, he had toured most of the United States and made an
appearance in the Warner Brothers film “Blues In The
Night” as a member of Lunceford’s group.
After four years of playing with the Jimmie Lunceford Band,
Wilson joined the groups of Les Hite, Benny Carter and even the
Navy’s Ship’s Company Band of Great Lakes, Ill.
During his years in Los Angeles, Wilson created his own group
through a chance occurrence at a nightclub.
“I was putting a band together for Herb Jefferies, who was
supposed to be the leader,” Wilson said. “He left
before we could play, so the club owners said “˜Gerald, why
don’t you take over and open with the band?’ And that
was it.”
The Gerald Wilson Jazz Orchestra experienced success, touring
the L.A. and New York club scenes with the Ellington and Lunceford
bands.
But despite the pizazz and glamour of living on the road, Wilson
realized there was something missing in his life.
“They were booking me everywhere,” Wilson said.
“And I realized that, “˜Hey, this wasn’t what I
wanted; there’s still so much I’ve got to learn.’
The only way I actually could was to actually stop and really
study. My booking agent was ready to kill me.”
After disbanding his group, Wilson returned to L.A. to refine
his knowledge of harmony and orchestration.
Despite taking time off to study music, he continued to arrange
and orchestrate music for Count Basie, with whom he also played
trumpet.
He wrote prolifically, producing scores for several other jazz
musicians, television, and film. His works include the soundtrack
for the movie “Anatomy of A Murder,” and pieces for
“The Redd Foxx Show,” a variety program.
By 1969, Wilson’s desire to learn led him to study the
works of classical composers like Claude Debussy, Aram
Katchaturian, Heitor Villa Lobos, and Igor Stravinsky.
According to his MAMA biography, Wilson’s extensive
knowledge of harmony and polytonality, combined with his new
knowledge of the classical style, led him to compose a piece titled
“5/21/72.”
This piece was written for the L.A. Philharmonic under the
direction of Zuben Metha.
Despite his dabbling in classical music, Wilson never abandoned
his jazz roots.
“While some of my stuff wasn’t really jazz, that
jazz feeling never left me. (“5/21/72″) is not jazz,
but it still has the feelings and harmonies of jazz,” Wilson
said.
Classical music is not the only influence on Wilson’s
compositions. The unique cultural background of Los Angeles is also
reflected in the Latin rhythms of many of his compositions.
“My wife Josefina is Mexican. She exposed me to her
culture and I used it in my music,” he said.
Despite the half-century span of his musical career, Wilson said
his job does not impede his personal life. In fact, he harmonizes
the two by spending time with his family, and composing and
recording pieces for his wife, and all of his children and
grandchildren.
His family also shares Wilson’s love for music. His son,
Anthony Wilson, teaches guitar and several jazz groups for the
music department at UCLA.
In 1970, Wilson received the chance to share his love of music
with others when he took a teaching job at California State
University, Northridge. Although the job was temporary, Wilson
ended up teaching for 13 years at CSUN, six years at Cal State
L.A., and for the past six years at UCLA.
“It helps keep me alive,” Wilson said of teaching.
“Because jazz is such a chain of evolution. I just try to be
a person worthy of being a part of this great art form.”
His students said Wilson tries to keep jazz alive and
ever-changing in his classes.
“He actually inspires and encourages us to write our own
music,” Graves said. “Other professors don’t do
that.”
His work has not gone unnoticed. At a performance with the
Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra in Bern, Switzerland in 1999, Wilson
received the Three Key Award for his contributions to jazz.
In addition, recordings such as “State Street Suite”
and others have earned him a total of five Grammy nominations.
But Wilson said these accolades resulted from years of hard work
and tenacity, essential ingredients for anyone hoping to become a
successful musician.
“You have to study, study, study and practice, practice,
practice, and stick with it,” Wilson said.