Gerald Stanley Wilson was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator.
13 Facts About Gerald Wilson
2.
Gerald Wilson joined the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra in 1939, replacing its trumpeter and arranger, Sy Oliver.
3.
Gerald Wilson played and arranged for the bands of Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.
4.
Gerald Wilson formed his own band, with some success in the mid-1940s.
5.
Gerald Wilson continued leading bands and recording in later decades for the Discovery and MAMA labels.
6.
Gerald Wilson continued to record Spanish-flavored compositions, notably the bravura trumpet solos "Carlos" and "Lomelin".
7.
In 1998 Gerald Wilson received a commission from the Monterey Jazz Festival for an original composition, resulting in "Theme for Monterey", which was performed at that year's festival.
8.
Gerald Wilson made special appearances as guest conductor, including with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and European radio jazz orchestras, conducting the BBC Big Band in 2005.
9.
Gerald Wilson was a member of the faculty at California State University, Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles, for many years recently winning a "teacher of the year" award.
10.
In June 2007, Gerald Wilson returned to the studio with producer Al Pryor and an all-star big band to record a special album of compositions commissioned and premiered at the Monterey Jazz Festival for the festival's 50th anniversary.
11.
Gerald Wilson had helped lead celebrations of the festival's 20th and 40th anniversary with his specially commissioned works.
12.
In September 2009, Gerald Wilson conducted his eight-movement suite "Detroit", commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival to mark its 30th anniversary.
13.
Gerald Wilson died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on September 8,2014, four days after his 96th birthday, after a brief illness that followed a bout of pneumonia, which had hospitalized him.