Wikipedia

Teddy Wilson

This article is about the jazz musician. For the actor, seeTheodore Wilson.For other people, seeTeddy Wilson (disambiguation).

Theodore Shaw Wilson(November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986)[1]was an Americanjazzpianist. Described by criticScott Yanowas "the definitiveswingpianist ",[2]Wilson's piano style was gentle, elegant, and virtuosic.[3]His style was highly influenced byEarl HinesandArt Tatum.[4]His work was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, includingLouis Armstrong,Lena Horne,Benny Goodman,Billie Holiday,andElla Fitzgerald.With Goodman, he was one of the first black musicians to perform prominently alongside white musicians.[5]In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Wilson also led his own groups and recording sessions from the late 1920s to the 1980s.

Teddy Wilson
Wilson in 1940
Wilson in 1940
Background information
Born(1912-11-24)November 24, 1912
Austin, Texas,U.S.
DiedJuly 31, 1986(1986-07-31)(aged 73)
New Britain, Connecticut,U.S.
GenresJazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentPiano

Life and career

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Early life

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Wilson was born inAustin, Texas.[6]Under his parents as school teachers, his early music education began at the age 6 with piano.[7]Then, he studied violin, oboe, and clarinet at theTuskegee InstituteinTuskegee, Alabama.[8]

From 1929 to the early 1930s

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Wilson moved to Detroit with his brother, musician Gus Wilson.[8]Teddy began his professional career in 1929 withSpeed Webb's band.[8]Wilson then took over the pianist position of bandleader Milton Senior's band fromArt Tatumin 1930.[8]After touring with the band in Chicago, he decided to stay in Chicago and worked withLouis Armstrongand his orchestra between 1931–1933.[8]He also understudiedEarl Hinesin Hines'sGrand Terrace CafeOrchestra before moving to New York to perform withBenny Carter'sChocolate Dandiesin 1933.[6]

From the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s

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In 1935, whilejammingwithBenny Goodmanand Carl Bellinger at a house party held byMildred Bailey,they caught the attention of producerJohn Hammond,who arranged several recording sessions for them. These recordings became the basis of the Benny Goodman Trio,[8]which consisted of Goodman, Wilson, and drummerGene Krupa(and, later,vibraphonistLionel Hampton).[6]The trio performed during the Goodmanbig band's intermissions. By joining the trio, Wilson became one of the first black musicians to perform prominently in a racially integrated group.

Hammond was also instrumental in getting Wilson a contract withBrunswick Recordsfrom 1935 to 1939 to record hot swing arrangements of the popular songs of the day, with the growing jukebox trade in mind. During these years, he also took part in many sessions withswingmusicians such asLester Young,Roy Eldridge,Charlie Shavers,Red Norvo,Buck Clayton,andBen Webster.38 of his recordings have been hits and these are mostly chamber jazz recordings with singers such asLena Horne,Helen Ward,Ella Fitzgerald,Mildred Bailey,andBillie Holiday.[9]Among those vocals, Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson made fourteen sides together in 1935 alone.[9]From 1939 to 1942, he recorded forColumbia Records.He also left his residency with Goodman's band and formed his own fifteen-piece big band in 1939, but it only lasted around a year due to the lack of individuality in his band.[10]In 1944, he returned to his sidemen position in theBenny Goodman Sextetand his musical association with Goodman continued until 1962.[8]In the mid to the late 1940s, Wilson mainly focused on studio recordings, on-screen performances, and radio broadcasts, instead of playing on public stages.[8]

Café Society

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After the demise of his big band, Wilson formed a sextet that performed atCafé Societyfrom 1940 to 1944.[6]There, he led jazz shows called "chamber jazz" with a dance orchestra composed of himself, Frankie Newton, Ed Hall, and Billie Holiday.[11]He was dubbed the "Marxist Mozart" byHoward "Stretch" Johnsondue to his support for left-wing causes: he performed in benefit concerts forThe New Massesjournal and forRussian War Relief,and he chaired the Artists' Committee to electBenjamin J. Davis(a New York City council member running on theCommunist Party USAballot line).[12]Later, the FBI suspended Wilson's performing activities on broadcast, radio, and social activities alleging that he was involved inCommunism.[13]

The late 1940s and 1950s

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From 1945 to 1952, Wilson taught at theJuilliard School.After that, he toured across numerous countries in Europe, including Scandinavia, England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland.[8]In the 1950s, he recorded forVerve Records.Wilson can also be seen appearing as himself in the motion picturesHollywood Hotel(1937) andThe Benny Goodman Story(1955). He later worked as music director for theDick Cavett Show.

Later years

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Wilson resided in suburbanHillsdale, New Jersey.[14]He was married three times, including to the songwriterIrene Kitchings.He performed as a soloist and with pickup groups until the final years of his life, including leading a trio with his sons Theodore Wilson on bass and Steven Wilson on drums.[15]

In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music fromBerklee College of Music.[8]

He died of stomach cancer inNew Britain, Connecticut,on July 31, 1986, aged 73. He is buried at Fairview Cemetery in New Britain. In addition to Theodore and Steven, Wilson had three more children, William, James (Jim) and Dune.[16]

Musical style

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According to Wilson, he was first exposed to jazz by listening to the music of Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, and Fats Waller.[8]He then developed his own musical vocabulary based on the styles of Art Tatum and Earl Hines.[17]When it comes to Tatum's influence, Wilson's fast right-hand runs can be traced to Tatum's similar right-hand embellishments.[17]However, Wilson's playing focused on diatonic, "inside" harmonic ideas based on triads and extensions. He also pursued a style of improvisation based on lyrical melodic development.[17]Furthermore, Wilson's playing is characterized by consistent dynamic expression with an elegant touch. His fluid runs and gracefully relaxed rhythmic coordination with clean and even phrasing might have been reflected by his reserved personality and his experience with Benny Goodman under racial segregation.[18]Teddy Wilson contributed to modernizing the pianistic articulation in contrast to the raw Harlem Stride Piano.[19]

While adapting tenth voicing in his left hand and horn-like doubled-octave playing in the right hand from Earl Hines, he pursued a lighter and thinner texture with a relatively simple rhythmic ideas and a single melodic device than Hines.[20]

Though he played with a lot of bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie during his work as a sideman, he held on to swing vocabulary based on chord tone arpeggios and diatonic harmony.[21]His playing on "Congo Blues"[22]forRed Norvoand His Sextet in 1945, for examples, demonstrates the stylistic contrast between Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.[21]

Wilson's style went on to influence other pianists such as his contemporaryMary Lou Williams,[23]Mel Powell,Billy Kyle,Jess Stacy,andJoe Bushkin.[19]

Select discography

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Wilson at a Benny Goodman rehearsal, 1950

Solo

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  • 1942:Columbia Presents Teddy Wilson
  • 1972:With Billie in Mind(Chiaroscuro)
  • 1983:Alone(Storyville)

As leader

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As sideman

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References

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  1. ^"NEA Jazz Master: Teddy Wilson, Pianist, Arranger, Educator".National Endowment for the Arts.Archived fromthe originalon May 15, 2012.RetrievedJune 17,2012.
  2. ^Yanow, Scott."Teddy Wilson Biography".AllMusic.All Media Network.RetrievedFebruary 24,2016.
  3. ^Hall, Fred (1991).More dialogues in swing: intimate conversations with the stars of the big band era.Pathfinder Pub. of Calif.ISBN0-934793-31-X.OCLC23356191.
  4. ^Hardish, Patrick; Schuller, Gunther (March 1994)."The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945".Notes.50(3): 502–507.doi:10.2307/898575.ISSN0027-4380.JSTOR898575.
  5. ^Cline-Ransome, Lesa (2014).Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History.Holiday House.ISBN978-0-8234-2362-0.
  6. ^abcdColin Larkin,ed. (1992).The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz(First ed.).Guinness Publishing.p. 433.ISBN0-85112-580-8.
  7. ^Lawrence, McClellan (March 1, 2005)."The later swing era, 1942-1955".Choice Reviews Online.42(7): 35–38.doi:10.5860/choice.42-3943.ISSN0009-4978.
  8. ^abcdefghijkWilson, Teddy (September 2001).Teddy Wilson Talks Jazz: The Autobiography of Teddy Wilson.A&C Black.ISBN978-0-8264-5797-4.
  9. ^abClarke, Donald (2015),Wishing on the Moon: the Life and Times of Billie Holiday,Blackstone Audio, Inc,ISBN978-1-5046-5387-9,OCLC910537904,retrievedApril 30,2023
  10. ^Hardish, Patrick; Schuller, Gunther (March 1994)."The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945".Notes.50(3): 502–507.doi:10.2307/898575.ISSN0027-4380.JSTOR898575.
  11. ^Stowe, David W. (March 1998)."The Politics of Cafe Society".The Journal of American History.84(4): 1384–1406.doi:10.2307/2568086.ISSN0021-8723.JSTOR2568086.
  12. ^Denning, Michael(1996).The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century.New York: Verso. p.317.ISBN978-1-84467-464-0.
  13. ^Gerdes, Louise I."The 1940s | WorldCat.org".www.worldcat.org.RetrievedApril 2,2023.
  14. ^"Jersey Is Home To Teddy Wilson; One Son Is a Teacher".The New York Times.July 1, 1973.Mr. Wilson settled in Hillsdale 10 years ago, when he and his present wife, were married.
  15. ^"Teddy Wilson Profile".Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians.jazz.com. Archived fromthe originalon July 20, 2013.RetrievedMay 4,2013.
  16. ^"Teddy Wilson Dies; Pianist and Leader Of 30's Jazz Combos".The New York Times.Associated Press.August 1, 1986.
  17. ^abcHardish, Patrick; Schuller, Gunther (March 1994)."The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945".Notes.50(3): 502–507.doi:10.2307/898575.ISSN0027-4380.JSTOR898575.
  18. ^Alper, Garth (August 2011).""What is This Thing Called Love?" as Conceptualized by Nine Jazz Pianists ".Jazz Perspectives.5(2): 115–134.doi:10.1080/17494060.2011.637679.ISSN1749-4060.
  19. ^abBerendt, Joachim-Ernst.The jazz book: from ragtime to the 21st century.pp. 369–370.ISBN978-1-61374-602-8.OCLC1313256341.
  20. ^Lawrence, McClellan (March 1, 2005)."The later swing era, 1942-1955".Choice Reviews Online.42(7): 35–38.doi:10.5860/choice.42-3943.ISSN0009-4978.
  21. ^abWang, Richard (1973)."Jazz Circa 1945: A Confluence of Styles".The Musical Quarterly.LIX(4): 531–546.doi:10.1093/mq/lix.4.531.ISSN0027-4631.
  22. ^Red Norvo & His Sextet - Congo Blues - 1945,January 29, 2017,retrievedApril 2,2023
  23. ^Gridley, Mark C.,Jazz styles: jazz classics compact disc,Sony Music Special Products [manufacturer],ISBN0-13-012693-4,OCLC42698384,retrievedApril 2,2023
  24. ^Hemming, Roy.Mildred Bailey(liner notes).Decca Records.p. 5. GRD-644.
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