Jack Wilson

Born on 3 August 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, Wilson grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There he trained on piano at both the Fort Wayne College of Music and the University of Indiana, pausing briefly for a short professional engagement with James Moody. Although he experimented briefly with baritone saxophone, once he settled in Columbus, Ohio, he concentrated on piano and worked alongside musicians that included Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He later joined Dinah Washington and appeared in ensembles led by the singer’s husband at the time, Eddie Chamblee. In Chicago during the late 1950s he cut his own trio dates for Argo Records, performed in bassist Richard Davis’s trio, and then entered the US Army, where he played tenor saxophone in military bands. After his discharge Wilson rejoined Washington for a time, recording with her as part of Quincy Jones’s studio orchestra before moving into Los Angeles film and television studios. He also backed vocalists such as Sammy Davis Jr., Julie London, O.C. Smith, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan, contributed to Curtis Amy’s Katanga!, and played harpsichord on alto saxophonist Earl Anderza’s Outa Sight. During the same years he remained a regular member of Gerald Wilson’s big band, appearing on Moment Of Truth and The Golden Sword. Wilson led his own small groups for several 1960s recording sessions, including organ duets with Genghis Kyle and Harry Cain, and assembled an all-star sextet for the 1967 album Easterly Winds that featured Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean. Throughout most of the 1970s he stayed largely behind the scenes in studio work, yet returned to leading his own projects in the late 1970s and performed with Eddie Harris and Lorez Alexandria. In the early 1980s he recorded with Clark Terry and toured Australia with Sonny Stitt and Richie Cole; in New York City during the mid-1980s he worked in duo with bassist Ed Schuller. A dynamic hard bop pianist, Wilson displayed vigor, inventiveness and notable technical mastery and dexterity. Early in the 2000s, reissues of several of his 1960s albums renewed interest in this accomplished yet lesser-known and under-valued pianist.