Teddy Wilson

Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson's piano style was gentle, elegant, and virtuosic. His style was highly influenced by Earl Hines and Art Tatum. His work was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. With Goodman, he was one of the first black musicians to perform prominently alongside white musicians. 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.

Life and career

Early life Wilson was born in Austin, Texas. Under his parents as school teachers, his early music education began at the age 6 with piano. Then, he studied violin, oboe, and clarinet at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.

From 1929 to the early 1930s Wilson moved to Detroit with his brother, musician Gus Wilson. Among those vocals, Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson made fourteen sides together in 1935 alone. In 1944, he returned to his sidemen position in the Benny Goodman Sextet and his musical association with Goodman continued until 1962. He was dubbed the "Marxist Mozart" by Howard "Stretch" Johnson due to his support for left-wing causes: he performed in benefit concerts for The New Masses journal and for Russian War Relief, and he chaired the Artists' Committee to elect Benjamin J. Davis (a New York City council member running on the Communist Party USA ballot line). Later, the FBI suspended Wilson's performing activities on broadcast, radio, and social activities alleging that he was involved in Communism.

The late 1940s and 1950s From 1945 to 1952, Wilson taught at the Juilliard School. After that, he toured across numerous countries in Europe, including Scandinavia, England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland. He was married three times, including to the songwriter Irene 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.

In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.

Musical style According to Wilson, he was first exposed to jazz by listening to the music of Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, and Fats Waller. When it comes to Tatum's influence, Wilson's fast right-hand runs can be traced to Tatum's similar right-hand embellishments. Teddy Wilson contributed to modernizing the pianistic articulation in contrast to the raw Harlem Stride Piano.

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.

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. His playing on "Congo Blues" for Red Norvo and His Sextet in 1945, for examples, demonstrates the stylistic contrast between Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Mel Powell, Billy Kyle, Jess Stacy, and Joe Bushkin. (Columbia) 1935–1939: Benny Goodman, The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (RCA) 1938: Benny Goodman, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Columbia) 1946-1947: Sarah Vaughan, The Chronological 1946–1947 (Classics. ?) 1954: Ben Webster, Music for Loving (Norgran) 1973: Eiji Kitamura, Swing Special 1974: Phoebe Snow Phoebe Snow (album) (Shelter Records) 1975: Eiji Kitamura, Teddy and Eiji- Live Session 1980: Eiji Kitamura, Teddy Wilson Meets Eiji Kitamura