Joe Lee Wilson
Encyclopedia
Joe Lee Wilson was an American gospel
-influenced jazz
singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma
. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp
albums recorded for Impulse! Records
.
and part Creek Native American
.
As his band's name, Joy of Jazz, suggests, Wilson's baritone
personified the life-affirming nature of jazz
and blues
. Seeing Billie Holiday
perform in 1951 began his interest in a career in music industry. He studied in Los Angeles before touring the West Coast, where he sat in with Sarah Vaughan
, and down to Mexico. In New York in the 1960s, he worked with Sonny Rollins
, Lee Morgan
, Miles Davis
, Pharoah Sanders
and Jackie McLean
; during the 1970s, he operated a jazz performance loft in New York's NoHo
district known as the Ladies' Fort at 2 Bond Street. His regular band, Joe Lee Wilson Plus 5, featured the alto saxophonist
Monty Waters
(from Modesto, California
) and for several years the Japanese guitarist, Ryo Kawasaki
, before the latter left to lead his own group. Archie Shepp, and Eddie Jefferson were frequent collaborators at these sessions.
He also sang with Eddie Jefferson
, Freddie Hubbard
, and Kenny Dorham
. He recorded a live radio program at WKCR-FM, Columbia University
, on July 16, 1972, which was released as an album
, Livin' High Off Nickels & Dimes, on the short-lived Oblivion Records in New York. Wilson's rendition of "Jazz Ain't Nothing But Soul" was a radio hit on New York jazz radio in 1975.
While based in Paris, Tokyo and the United Kingdom, he recorded regularly with the American pianist Kirk Lightsey
, including the Candid recording Feelin’ Good. One of his last albums was an Italian recording with Riccardo Arrighini and Gianni Basso, Ballads for Trane (Philology W707.2).
Wilson was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in November of 2010, where he gave his last public performance.
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-influenced jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma
Bristow, Oklahoma
Bristow is a city in Creek County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,325 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bristow is located at ....
. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
albums recorded for Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
.
Biography
Wilson was born to farming parents in Bristow. He was part African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and part Creek Native American
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
.
As his band's name, Joy of Jazz, suggests, Wilson's baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
personified the life-affirming nature of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. Seeing Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
perform in 1951 began his interest in a career in music industry. He studied in Los Angeles before touring the West Coast, where he sat in with Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, and down to Mexico. In New York in the 1960s, he worked with Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
, Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
and Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
; during the 1970s, he operated a jazz performance loft in New York's NoHo
NoHo
NoHo, for North of Houston Street is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, roughly bounded by Houston Street on the south, The Bowery on the east, Astor Place on the north, and Broadway on the west. NoHo is wedged between Greenwich Village, west of Broadway, and the East Village...
district known as the Ladies' Fort at 2 Bond Street. His regular band, Joe Lee Wilson Plus 5, featured the alto saxophonist
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
Monty Waters
Monty Waters
Monty Waters was an American jazz saxophonist , flautist and singer. Waters received his first musical training from his aunt and first played in the church. After his education in college, he was a member of a Rhythm & Blues band...
(from Modesto, California
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
) and for several years the Japanese guitarist, Ryo Kawasaki
Ryo Kawasaki
Ryo Kawasaki chose a career as a jazz fusion guitarist after spending some years studying as a scientist. During the 60s he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands...
, before the latter left to lead his own group. Archie Shepp, and Eddie Jefferson were frequent collaborators at these sessions.
He also sang with Eddie Jefferson
Eddie Jefferson
Eddie Jefferson was a celebrated jazz vocalist and lyricist. He is credited as an innovator of vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Perhaps his best-known song is "Moody's Mood for Love", though it was first recorded by King Pleasure, who cited...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, and Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
. He recorded a live radio program at WKCR-FM, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, on July 16, 1972, which was released as an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Livin' High Off Nickels & Dimes, on the short-lived Oblivion Records in New York. Wilson's rendition of "Jazz Ain't Nothing But Soul" was a radio hit on New York jazz radio in 1975.
While based in Paris, Tokyo and the United Kingdom, he recorded regularly with the American pianist Kirk Lightsey
Kirk Lightsey
Kirkland "Kirk" Lightsey is an American jazz pianist.Lightsey had piano instruction from age five and studied piano and clarinet through high school. After service in the Army, Lightsey worked in Detroit and California in the 1960s as an accompanist to singers...
, including the Candid recording Feelin’ Good. One of his last albums was an Italian recording with Riccardo Arrighini and Gianni Basso, Ballads for Trane (Philology W707.2).
Wilson was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in November of 2010, where he gave his last public performance.
As leader
- 1969: Without a Song (Inner CityInner City RecordsInner City Records, an American jazz record label now based in Elmsford, New York, was founded in 1976 by Irv Kratka, owner of Music Minus One, and Eric Kriss, an independent producer. Affiliated labels included Guitar World and Classic Jazz...
) - 1974: Livin' High Off Nickels & Dimes (OblivionOblivion RecordsOblivion Records was an American independent record label that focused on under recorded blues and jazz musicians. The company was based in Huntington, New York and New York City and a post office box in Roslyn Heights, New York from 1972–1976....
) - 1976: Shout For Trane (WhynotWhynot Records-Discography:...
) - 1976: Hey Look at You (East Wind RecordsEast Wind RecordsEast Wind was a Japanese jazz record label.Among their most prominent artists were "The Great Jazz Trio", a group that has included Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Hank Jones, Richard Davis, Ron Carter.-Discography:-External links:**...
) reissue of Without a Song - 1977: Secrets from the Sun (SunSun Records (jazz)Sun Records was a jazz record label begun by saxophonist Frank Wright. Center of the World Records was also set up by Wright around the same time.-Sun:-Center of the World:-See also:* List of record labels...
) - 1992: Acid Rain (with Kirk LightseyKirk LightseyKirkland "Kirk" Lightsey is an American jazz pianist.Lightsey had piano instruction from age five and studied piano and clarinet through high school. After service in the Army, Lightsey worked in Detroit and California in the 1960s as an accompanist to singers...
, Jack Gregg, Sangoma Everett - 2008: Ballads for Trane (Philology)
- 2008: I Believe (Philology)
As sideman
With Archie SheppArchie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
- Things Have Got to ChangeThings Have Got to ChangeThings Have Got to Change is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp released in 1971 on the Impulse! label. The album features performance by Shepp with a large ensemble and vocal choir...
(1971) - Attica BluesAttica Blues (album)Attica Blues is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. Originally released in 1972 on the Impulse! label, the album title is a direct reference to the Attica Prison riots...
(1972) - The Cry of My PeopleThe Cry of My PeopleThe Cry of My People is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp released in 1972 on the Impulse! label. The album features performances by Shepp with gospel singers, big bands, quintets, sextets, and chamber orchestras...
(1972) - A Touch of the Blues (Fluid RecordsFluid RecordsFluid Records was a jazz record label who released only 4 albums, although each featuring legendary figures of the genre. Paragon features Dave Holland and Barry Altschul, A Touch Of The Blues features Clifford Jarvis and Cameron Brown, Confirmation features Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper, and...
, 1977)
External links
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/18/joe-lee-wilson-obituaryObituary in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
] - Discogs
- Joe Lee Wilson's last public performance, at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in November 2010