I remember when I first saw this album in Logos Books and Records in Santa Cruz. It wasn’t long after I had bought the Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi albums in Pacific Groove and first heard the cello played on a jazz album - now that is a sound I wish we’d hear more often on a jazz album. So, when I read the back of Jack Wilson’s Something Personal and saw that Ray Brown played cello, I bought it right away.
When I got home and played it, the whole piano, cello, vibes combo knocked me out. Right then and there, this album did indeed become something personal for me.
Jack Wilson was born in Chicago in 1936. His family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana when he was seven years old. When he was nine, he studied music and theory with Carl Atkinson at the Fort Wayne College of Music. At 15, he became the youngest member of the Fort Wayne Musicians’ Union.
After college, he moved to Columbus, Ohio and worked with the then unknown Roland Kirk and Nancy Wilson. After a year in Columbus, he was the leader of the Cotton Club house band in Atlantic City, where he met Dinah Washington. She hired him, and he recalls it was “…an unforgettable experience. I stayed with Dinah a year, then settled in Chicago in 1958.”
He would later recall, “I was frightened as hell, and really felt that I didn’t deserve to be with Dinah, playing in New York and touring Europe at such a young age. It was a hell of an education for me, though. Dinah would continually cast me into challenging roles, as an accompanist, a conductor, and a soloist. If she believed in someone, she’d push you into a situation, and would expect you to justify her faith in you. I always felt I was in over my head, but those kinds of challenges really helped me develop as a musician.”
In 1958, while in Chicago, he worked with bassist Richard Evans, who in 1956 had recorded with Sun Ra on his Transition album Jazz by Sun Ra Vol. 1.
Jack Wilson made his recording debut on Richard Evans’ Argo album Richard’s Almanac, recorded in Chicago in 1959:
On the same day of that recording, he received his draft notice.
Wilson served as the Third Army Area’s music director until he was released from service in 1961 and re-joined Dinah Washington’s band. The following year on a recording trip to California, he decided that his best opportunities were in Los Angeles. He quit the band and started looking for work in Hollywood.
He wasted no time recording in Los Angeles. In February 1962, he played on the solid Curtis Amy Pacific Jazz album Katanga! and for Atlantic records, The Jack Wilson Quartet featuring Roy Ayers. In May, he recorded The Two Sides Of Jack Wilson, again on Atlantic. That summer he recorded with Gerald Wilson on the killer Pacific Jazz album Moment of Truth. From that album, here is Viva Tirado:
Another not so well-known and under-appreciated artist that appeared on this album is alto saxophonist Joe Maini, who we’ll hear more about a little further down the river.
In 1963, Wilson recorded The Jazz Organs for the obscure Vault label:
Vault records was established in 1963 by Jack Lewerke and Ralph Kaffel, initially releasing surf music. One of the first artists signed to the label was a group called The Challengers, one of southern California’s first surf bands. Here is Vault record’s first release, Surfbeat from 1963:
I love the old Vault covers. Here’s another cool one, Hot Rod City:
One of the first dozen albums released by Vault was Wilson’s The Jazz Organs. However, Vault’s attempt to hit the charts failed and the label was sold to National Tape Distributors of Milwaukee in August 1969.
Another Wilson Vault album released in 1965 or 1966 (documentation on Vault is not so hot) is the fine album Ramblin’:
You can start to hear some of the early synergy between Wilson and Ayers playing without horns. From that album, here is a nice version of Oliver Nelson’s Stolen Moments:
However, it was his August 1966 debut album with Blue Note records where, I think, Jack Wilson was allowed to record something uniquely personal.
Recorded in the summer of 1966, Something Personal is Wilson’s first release on Blue Note, and it is masterpiece in modern music. As I stated above, it was Ray Brown’s cello that made be buy the album. It now occurs to me that had there been no cello on the album, I most likely would have passed it by. I still recall that first time I played this album. The first song on side one is Wilson’s composition Most Unsoulful Woman. Right out of the gate, you hear what I thought at the time was a guitar, but there is no guitar on the album. In fact, it is Wilson strumming at the strings inside his piano. Nice.
Here is that song with Ray Brown’s haunting cello:
Although all the songs on this album stand alone, here’s another I’d like to feature, C.F.D., which really takes off after a rather pedestrian intro - on this one, the louder the better:
Easterly Winds was Wilson’s second Blue Note album and is also a strong session.
Although Roy Ayers is not on this one, Wilson replaced him with a killer horn section of Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean - lord have mercy.
Last week, on Jackie McLean’s journey, I featured Nirvanna, my favorite from the album and a tune that always makes me stop and take notice. This week, I’ll feature two more: first, here is Frank’s Tune:
...and now another wonderfully tasteful trio track, Johnny Mandel’s A Time For Love:
To my ears, Jack Wilson is perhaps the most under-appreciated pianist in Blue Note’s wide-ranging discography. His sound has always been something personal to me. On a nice, sunny day, there is really nothing like opening the sunroof and going for a drive while listening to Harbor Freeway 5 P.M.
Here is one more for the road. From Katanga!, here is Amyable. I dedicate this song to Hop out there in Cali, who is very Amyable….
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in and explore the waters of the often over-looked West Coast artist, saxophone player Joe Maini.
If you like what you’ve been reading and hearing so far on our journey and would like to share this with someone you think might be interested in learning more about our great American art form: Jazz, just hit the “Share” button at the bottom of the page. Also, if you feel so inclined, become a subscriber to my journey by hitting the “Subscribe” button here:
Also, find my playlist on Spotify: From Fred Astaire to Sun Ra.
Feel free to contact me at any time to talk shop. I welcome and encourage that.
Until then, keep on walking….