Wesley Wilson

Biography Wilson was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He played the piano and organ, and his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant, played the guitar and sang and danced.

The duo was variously billed as Grant and Wilson, Kid and Coot, and Hunter and Jenkins, as they appeared and later record with Fletcher Henderson, Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. Their variety was such that they performed separately and together in vaudeville, musical comedies, revues and traveling shows. They also appeared in the film The Emperor Jones (1933), starring Paul Robeson. including "Gimme a Pigfoot" (1933) and "Take Me for a Buggy Ride" (both of which were recorded by Bessie Smith) and "Find Me at the Greasy Spoon (If You Miss Me Here)" (1925) and "Prince of Wails" for Fletcher Henderson. Their own renditions included such diverse titles as "Come on Coot, Do That Thing" (1925), "Dem Socks Dat My Pappy Wore", and the unreleased "Throat Cutting Blues".

By 1946, after Mezz Mezzrow had founded his King Jazz record label, he engaged them as songwriters.

Wilson died of a stroke at the age of 65 in October 1958 in Cape May Court House, New Jersey.