(RIP) Is Jack Wilson (Atlantic & Blue Note 60s pianist) dead?

[monkboughtlunch]

Any idea if the live 1970 Blue Note Memory Lane Los Angeles recordings survive in the EMI archives? Has MICHAEL CUSCUNA ever commented on these unreleased Wilson Blue Note live recordings?

[mikeweil]

They are listed as unissued in the official Blue Note discography, not as rejected. 

[monkboughtlunch]

Is there a way to determine if Blue Note live tapes still exist? Anyone here know Cuscuna?

[mjzee]

It's Don Was now.

[JSngry]

Was Now Was

[monkboughtlunch]

On 2/8/2019 at 1:04 PM, mjzee said:

It's Don Was now.

Check this out!  Looks like Zev Feldman (of Resonance Records) is joining Blue Note.  Maybe he can investigate the 1970 Jack Wilson Blue Note live recordings at Memory Lane?

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/zev-feldman-blue-note-jazz-don-was-1203101919/

Excerpt below from January 2019 Variety article:

Archival Music Producer Zev Feldman, the ‘Jazz Detective,’ Takes on New Blue Note Role (EXCLUSIVE)

"The archival record producer who’s picked up the nickname “the Jazz Detective” is going to be putting his gumshoe skills to work for the genre’s most storied label. Zev Feldman, possibly the most widely admired archival producer working in the jazz field today, has a new gig at Blue Note Records, where he’ll work closely with label president Don Was, Variety can exclusively reveal.

While the Blue Note vaults have been mined extensively over the last 30 years — with efforts largely directed by Michael Cuscuna, who similarly operated his own catalog label Mosaic Records while serving as a consultant — Feldman will focus on excavating hitherto unreleased music by Blue Note artists.

The first fruits of Feldman’s detective work for Blue Note have yet to be announced, but they’ll dovetail neatly with an extensive 80th anniversary catalog campaign for the label, which kicks off in February with high-end audiophile reissues of titles by Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, overseen by producer Joe “Tone Poet” Harley.

“I have a whole list of projects I’m preparing for them right now,” Feldman says. “We’re just getting started here. I met with Don and Justin just before the break, and I had a list of 21 or 22 different projects. … I wanted to land on my feet running."

Edited February 11, 2019 by monkboughtlunch

[Dan Gould]

This was discussed over a month ago.

[Bluesnik]

On 8/1/2007 at 9:45 PM, Daniel A said:

'Ramblin' is said to be rather better but unfortunately I have not heard it myself. Look for several other fine sideman appearances, for example with Roy Ayers.

Yes, Ramblin is very good (hearing it myself). And I coincide in his work with Ayers. Perhaps his strongest.

[clifford_thornton]

I'd like to hear some of this unissued stuff if it survives... really have grown to appreciate Jack Wilson in recent years. He's a beautiful player.

[Eric]

4 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

I'd like to hear some of this unissued stuff if it survives... really have grown to appreciate Jack Wilson in recent years. He's a beautiful player.

Completely agree.  Nice to see the Penthouse stuff out a few years ago.

[Bluesnik]

On 12/10/2021 at 5:48 AM, Eric said:

Nice to see the Penthouse stuff out a few years ago.

Yes, that was a nice surprise. And there I heard for the first time Wilson with Ayers, if memory serves. Something I was asking myself about at another post. Wilson alone I already knew before.

[monkboughtlunch]

A two-inch original master videotape of Jack Wilson performing on the TV program Frankly Jazz in 1962 was donated to UCLA, transferred to digital and streamed via Zoom in 2021. 
 

I have not seen the video. Did anyone see this? It was only a one-time screening! See Gerald Wilson show below.

https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2021/05/06/frankly-jazz-three-preserved-episodes

May 6, 2021 - 4:00 pm

Virtual event

 

Watch on Vimeo

This is a one-time live screening.

Read Television Archivist Mark Quigley's interview with Lance Evans, son of Frankly Jazz host, co-producer and disc jockey Frank Evans.

Premiering on Los Angeles’ KTLA Channel 5 in 1962, the tragically short-lived local television series Frankly Jazzoffered viewers powerhouse live performances by some of the best West Coast jazz musicians of the day. Hosted and co-produced by noted disc jockey Frank Evans (and sharing the eponymous title of his popular L.A. radio show as heard on KRHM-FM), Frankly Jazz took up where Bobby Troup’s Stars of Jazz ABC-TV series left off in 1958—providing a ‘60s-era, new frontier soundtrack to the City of Angels, with stark modern visuals to match. Recorded on black and white videotape from a bare soundstage draped in noir shadows and cigarette smoke, host Evans schooled Saturday evening television audiences on the sacred world of jazz with an unshakable, laid-back cool, effortlessly dropping deep musical knowledge and keeping it real with his hip trademark sign-off, “later.”

The Archive presents three episodes of this obscure local music TV series, as preserved from recently acquired, original 2 in. master videotapes featuring legendary artists such as Gerald Wilson, the Jazz Crusaders and Sammy Davis Jr. The performances will be introduced by jazz musician and educator Ray Briggs, Ph.D., Jazz Studies Department Chair for the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he teaches courses in jazz history and ethnomusicology.

Program curated and notes written by Mark Quigley, John H. Mitchell Television Archivist.
 

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding from the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. 

Frankly Jazz: The Jazz Crusaders and Mary Ann McCall

Record date: 8/3/1962

KTLA. Producers: Frank Evans, Gary Markas. Director: Gary Markas. Host: Frank Evans. Musicians: Wayne Henderson (trombone), Wilton Felder (reeds), Joe Sample (piano), Victor Gaskin (acoustic double bass), Stix Hooper (drums), Mary Ann McCall (vocals).

Frankly Jazz: Gerald Wilson Big Band

Record date: 12/5/1962

KTLA. Producers: Frank Evans, Gary Markas. Director: Gary Markas. Host: Frank Evans. Musicians: Gerald Wilson (trumpet, leader); Al Porcino, Robert Knight, Jules Chaikin, John Audino, Fred R. Hill (trumpets); John Ewing, Bob Edmondson, Louis Blackburn (trombones); Buddy Collette (flute, alto sax); Joe Maini (alto sax); Teddy Ed-wards, Henry Grant (tenor sa)x; Jack Nimitz (baritone sax); Jack Wilson Jr. (piano); Jimmy Bond (acoustic double bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Frankly Jazz: Sammy Davis, Jr. and Victor Feldman

Record date: 10/19/1962

KTLA. Producers: Frank Evans, Gary Markas. Director: Gary Markas. Host: Frank Evans. Musicians: Victor Feldman (vibraphone); Jimmy Rowles (piano); Bob Whitlock (acoustic double bass); Kenny Dennis (drums); Sammy Davis Jr. (vocals).

B&w, total program running time: 85 min.

Preserved from original 2 in. videotapes. Video transfers at DC Video. Engineering services by David Crosthwait. Special thanks to Greg Lewerke and Stan Lewerke. Musician credits from Jazz on the Screen: A Jazz and Blues Filmography by David Meeker.

[monkboughtlunch]

Here’s clip of Jack playing on this 1962 Frankly Jazz show from YouTube.  This is not from the source videotape and appears to be a multigenerational copy.

Wilson’s solo starts at 4:07

Great stuff. If UCLA ever publishes their new transfer from the original videotape, it will be a massive upgrade in video and audio quality.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by monkboughtlunch