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Joe Wilder

Joe Wilder is an NEA Jazz Master

Joe Wilder turned eighty on February 22, 2002, an occasion marked by celebrations at the Arbors Records "March of Jazz" party in Clearwater, Florida, at the "Jazz in July" series at New York's 92nd Street Y, and at two tribute concerts: at the Smithsonian in March and at Lincoln Center in August. Best of all, Wilder himself performed at all these events in the same inimitable style that has been captivating audiences and fellow musicians since the late 1930s. For his third Evening Star release, we decided to continue the celebration in the studio by gathering some of Joe's favorite musicians to play with him in various combinations. The repertoire consists of pieces Joe likes to play but has never had the chance to record, including some of the finest examples of the American popular songbook.

Of the guest artists, Frank Wess and Joe have been friends since the early 1940s. Joe, who was with the Philadelphia-based Harlem Dictators at the time, recalls meeting Frank in Annapolis where the saxophonist was working with Jimmy Golden's band. Later, they were colleagues in Count Basie's orchestra. Joe has known Bucky Pizzarelli since the 1950s when both became stalwarts in the New York studios. Warren Vaché and Joe have a mutual admiration society going back two decades. They have conducted clinics and have played together at many jazz parties through the years. "Joe is my idol," Warren says. "When I grow up, I want to be just like Joe Wilder!"

Bill Charlap and Russell Malone are more recent but no less compatible associates who obviously share Joe's musical philosophy, especially where melody is concerned. The quintet and sextet tracks include pianist Chris Neville and bassist Steve LaSpina, distinctive soloists and sensitive accompanists who comprise two-thirds of Benny Carter's most recent regular rhythm section. They are joined by drummer Chuck Redd, a Wilder favorite and fellow member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

The personnel on the final track evolved in a most unusual way. While Joe and Bucky Pizzarelli were running through Joe's line on "Lady Be Good," bassist Jerry Bruno and drummer Joe Cocuzzo walked into the studio for a later session with a singer. They couldn't resist joining in. Bucky then spied his friend Skitch Henderson, who had dropped by to visit. "You be Basie!" the guitarist called out, directing Skitch to the piano, and suddenly the duo had become a quintet and a truly impromptu jam had been captured in the studio.

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Radio & Podcasts

Jazz Life On The Road: Part 2

Read "Jazz Life On The Road: Part 2" reviewed by Monk Rowe


Sonny Igoe, Al Grey, Ruth Brown and Joe Wilder offer more road tales both poignant and humorous. Racial discrimination plays a role in these road travails. ...

4
Album Review

Oscar Brown Jr.: Sin & Soul

Read "Sin & Soul" reviewed by Robert Gilbert


Oscar Brown Jr. was a singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, author, performer, Civil Rights activist, television host, political candidate and serviceman, to name but a few of the hats he wore throughout his life. He also recorded one of the most dazzling debut records that has ever been released, 1960's Sin & Soul on Columbia Records. It remains a startling and refreshing listen. There is an enduring mystique about the debut album, that first opportunity accorded an ...

9
Book Review

Softly, With Feeling

Read "Softly, With Feeling" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Softly with Feeling. Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music Edward Berger 378 Pages ISBN: 978-1-4399-1127-3 Temple University Press 2014 It's a long way from Darby Colwyn PA to Manhattan NY in more ways than one. There's an old Fels Naptha plant that has always seemed the pride of Colwyn, that is, until you know about Joe Wilder. Many of us discover him scandalously late in life, decades after our ...

903
Profile

Joe Wilder: A True Living Legend

Read "Joe Wilder: A True Living Legend" reviewed by Greg Thomas


Joe Wilder, a true living legend of the trumpet, is at long last getting what fellow brass great Roy Eldridge used to call “his screen credits . After 60+ years of superlative support work in big bands, Broadway pit orchestras and commercials, Wilder is finally headlining his own quartet at the Village Vanguard. He says in fact that it's the first time he's ever led a group in New York City under his own name. A long-time ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Joe Wilder's birthday today!

Joe Wilder turned eighty on February 22, 2002, an occasion marked by celebrations at the Arbors Records “March of Jazz" party in Clearwater, Florida, at the “Jazz in July" series at New York's 92nd Street Y, and at two tribute concerts: at the Smithsonian in March and at Lincoln Center in August. Best of all, Wilder himself performed at all these events in the same inimitable style that has been captivating ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


2

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


2

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


Obituary

Remembering Joe Wilder

Remembering Joe Wilder

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Joe Wilder, admired for his trumpet tone, range, stylistic flexibility and for his elegance as a musician and person, is gone. Wilder died at the age of 92 last Friday in New York. Despite his modesty and disinclination to assert himself, his skill put him in demand by big band leaders including Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman, as well as a wide range of Broadway and television producers. Among the dozens of musicians with whom Wilder recorded were ...

1

Obituary

Joe Wilder, trumpeter and NEA jazz master, dies at 92

Joe Wilder, trumpeter and NEA jazz master, dies at 92

Source: Michael Ricci

Joe Wilder, a trumpeter of understated lyricism and breathtaking range, who toured with some of the biggest names in jazz, helped integrate Broadway pit orchestras and enjoyed a late-career renaissance as a rediscovered master, died May 9 at a rehabilitation facility in New York City. He was 92. He had congestive heart failure, said a daughter, Elin Wilder-Melcher. Mr. Wilder performed with such jazz giants as Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie, but he seemed to spend ...

1

Obituary

Joe Wilder (1922-2014)

Joe Wilder (1922-2014)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Joe Wilder, a trumpeter with a polished, punctuating sound whose ferocious recording schedule starting in 1942 with big bands, R&B groups and small jazz ensembles left him little time to record as a leader, died May 9. He was 92. Known to insiders as “Junior," Joe was such a clean and distinct player that he often sounded like a well-dressed pool shark cleaning the table. Like the shark who rids the table of balls with firm control and forceful strokes, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Jazz Musician of the Day: Joe Wilder

Source: Michael Ricci


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Among Friends

Evening Star Records
2003

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Hangin' Out

Concord Records
1985

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Sin & Soul

Columbia Records
1960

buy

Gillespiana

Verve Records
1960

buy

The Pretty Sound

Kedar Entertainment Group
1959

buy

Wilder 'N' Wilder

Savoy Jazz
1956

buy

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