Jack Wilson

Jack Wilson (b. Chicago, August 3, 1936 – d. New York, October 5, 2007) – Pianist, organist and composer. At age seven, Chicago native Jack Wilson moved to Fort Wayne, where he began studying piano in his early teens. As a tenor saxophonist, he played in the Central High School band, and he played in local jazz groups. After becoming the youngest member to join the National Federation of Musicians Union (Local 58) at age fifteen, Wilson, at seventeen, had the honor of substituting for two weeks as the pianist of the James Moody band. Following three semesters at Indiana University, he eventually moved to Columbus, Ohio, with a touring rock band, before moving on to Atlantic City about a year later. In Atlantic City, he led a house band at the Cotton Club and was discovered by singer Dinah Washington, whom he backed in 1957-1958 and 1961-62. After relocating to Chicago, he had the opportunity to play piano with such greats as Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Eddie Harris, and Al Hibbler. Then after a shortened army stint and a move to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, he played jazz with Gerald Wilson, Herbie Mann, Johnny Griffin, Lou Donaldson, and Jackie McLean and also played more commercially oriented sessions with Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, and Sonny and Cher. Throughout the 1960s, he led groups on two albums with Atlantic, three on Vault, and three on Blue Note (including Easterly Winds, 1967). After playing with R & B great Esther Phillips from 1969 to 1977, he recorded three albums on Discovery in quick succession. For his next and last featured recording, In New York (DIW, 1993), he collaborated with drummer Jimmy Cobb.