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anthony macıas´

California’s Composer Laureate

Gerald Wilson, music, and

Black-Mexican connections Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021

California should create a Composer Laureate position, and Gerald Wilson is the obvious choice.1 The ninety-five-year-old jazz master has contributed to California’s cultural and musical life, as composer, trumpeter, bandleader, teacher, and mentor for decades. Wilson’s fusion of African American, Mexican, and other Latin musical traditions links us to the history of our racially rich, ethnically diverse state, and his life story could inspire one possible future of fully funded public arts education, which could someday serve as a model for the rest of the country. Jazz, according to historian Eric Porter, ‘‘is a hybrid cultural practice, with African, European, Latin American, and North American cultural roots ...[and] a vehicle for identity formation and self-actualization for members of disparate cultural communities.’’2 The music of Gerald Wilson provides ample evidence proving this point. Like jazz itself, Wilson’s music balances the collective and the individual, arranging many voices together to realize a composer’s vision while enabling a soloist’s self- expression. His stirring instrumentals, which pioneered the Hammond B-3 electronic organ in a jazz orchestra format, are emotionally moving, like gospel church songs, as suggested by the reviews of his 1960s albums (‘‘glorious’’), Central Avenue Jazz Festival performances (‘‘sheer ecstasy’’), music (‘‘soul satisfying’’), and musicians (‘‘Preaching the Sermon’’).3 Wilson’s big band causes happiness, brings joy, and produces beauty, whether loud and dramatic, soft and romantic, or moody and pen- sive. His spiritual, soulful compositions, with their funky rhythmic grooves, touching love themes, and layered orchestral harmonies, conjure blissful soundscapes. His dense, rapturous surround sound is dignified, at times thunderous. Finally, Wilson’s singular soul jazz reveals the drive and dedication of a disciplined artist—both student and teacher—who honed his craft and, through the rigors of intensive study, constant

Boom: A Journal of California, Vol. 3, Number 2, pps 34–51, ISSN 2153-8018, electronic ISSN 2153-764X. © 2013 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/boom.2013.3.2.34.

34 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM Gillespie, , , Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, and Johnny Hartman. Gerald Wilson is not a household name, but he should be. His talent is legendary among jazz insiders; his ground- breaking compositions, intricate arrangements, and imme- diately recognizable sound put him in a league of his own.4 He has been revered by his peers, lauded in jazz journals (Down Beat called him ‘‘an arranger of international repu- tation’’ in 1962), and acknowledged in popular jazz music guides, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.5 Alyn Shipton describes him as ‘‘one of the most accomplished and over- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 looked figures in jazz history.’’6 Although Wilson is mentioned in several academic and trade press books on jazz, particularly those on California or West Coast jazz, he is still too little known.7 According to his friend and teaching colleague, jazz guitarist , ‘‘He never gets enough credit for all of the things he can do. He can compose and arrange for solo instrument and for full orchestra, and everything in between.’’8 Wilson thus remained underappreciated—even underrated—by staying in , rather than moving to New York, but he gained other opportunities as well, and he reached his objec- Gerald Wilson, with sunglasses. Photographer: Fred Seligo. tive of writing anything—for the symphony orchestra, for Inner gatefold cover, Gerald Wilson Orchestra, The Golden Sword: the movies, and for television—with great speed, great Torero Impressions in Jazz (, 1966). 9 COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS. accuracy. Wilson’s big band stands out, though hidden in plain sight within the historical record, playing swinging, soulful practice, professional competition, and passionate perfor- music grounded in the African American blues tradition, mance, pushed and expanded his talents over time, as part and in the uniquely American jazz tradition. Moreover, an of his educational and musical philosophy. integral aspect of Wilson’s musical legacy is that he wrote, arranged, recorded, and performed not only Latin-tinged tunes, especially several brassy homages to Mexican bull- The best-kept secret fighters, but also bona fide Latin jazz originals, including The recognition of Gerald Wilson’s achievements include a couple of clave-driven gems.10 six Grammy nominations, two American Jazz Awards, the This essay focuses on the 1960s, Wilson’s most prolific Paul Robeson Award, a Jazz Journalists Association award, period, presenting a selective snapshot of his career, insert- a National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters ing him more fully into jazz—and California—history, Fellowship, a White House citation for work with America’s and arguing for his continuing relevance, and for that of youth, winning the Down Beat International Critics Poll the arts and publicly funded arts education. Analyzing twice, and having his recorded life’s work archived at The theinfluenceofLatinmusicandMexicancultureonhis Library of Congress. He has conducted the American Jazz creations not only reveals the black-brown connections in Orchestra in a retrospective concert, and the his Alta California art, but also highlights a hemispheric Jazz Band has performed his music. In addition, the long sense of Americanness that acknowledges a long history list of luminaries with whom Wilson has worked includes of indigenous and Afro-Mexican contributions to las , , , Dizzy Americas´ .

BOOM | SUMMER 2013 35 Early training and career hear, I was capable of making it.’’21 Consequently, in addi- tion to writing for shows in Las Vegas, he arranged material Born 4 in Shelby, Mississippi, and raised for jazz vocalists and pop singers, including several songs there by his college-educated parents, Gerald Wilson stud- for the groundbreaking, bestselling 1962 ied in the music program at Manassas High School in album, Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, and its Memphis, Tennessee, then moved to , Michigan, to follow-up of the same year. enroll in the racially integrated, cutting-edge music program at Cass Technical High School for five years, from 1934 to 1939. At Cass Tech, ‘‘it was music all day.’’11 Wilson recalled, Mexican culture and the Latin tinge22 ‘‘You learned symphonic music, marching band music and Gerald Wilson first tried his hand at Latin jazz in 1949 with jazz. You had to take keyboard, percussion, harmony, his two-part arrangement of Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gilles- orchestration, vocals as well as at least one stringed instru- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 pie’s ‘‘Gaurachi Guaro,’’ and he wrote in the hip, Mexico ment.’’12 The rigorous public school’s curriculum included City/Perez Prado style with his ‘‘Mambo Mexicana-Pt. 1 and advanced instrumental techniques and music theory, result- Pt. 2.’’ Five years later, in 1954, Wilson’s arrangement of ing in expert training.13 In short, at a time when highbrow, classical composer Aram Khachaturian’s song, ‘‘Bull Eurocentric college music departments looked down on Fighter,’’ boasted bravura trumpeting by Wilson himself, jazz, the music school at Cass Tech, with its two jazz bands, who summons a deep, driving groove, getting his vibrato was, in Wilson’s estimation, second only to Juilliard.14 matador mojo working, while inserting flamenco passages After playing with a few Detroit jazz groups, in an of the pasodoble march played when bullfighters enter the apprenticeship system that moved a musician forward as ring. Around the same time, in the mid-1950s, he arranged his abilities developed, Wilson joined the a flamenco-influenced tune, ‘‘Virgen de la Macarena,’’ for Orchestra in 1939 at twenty-one years of age.15 Lunceford’s Duke Ellington’s orchestra.23 band rivaled that of Duke Ellington, and it played every Thus, even before he first recorded for Pacific Jazz in capital city in the United States except one.16 As Wilson 1961, Wilson had already begun writing and arranging Latin recalled, ‘‘We were the avant-garde then, and we would have jazz, and by the end of the decade his compositions merged 17 two or three hits going on the jukebox at same time.’’ He Latin rhythms with adventurous charts and a blues spirit. In wrote two original songs for the band, both of which became 1960, Miles Davis and Gil Evans released the Spanish hits, and one of which, ‘‘Yard Dog Mazurka,’’ became a jazz modal melancholia of Sketches of Spain.Meanwhile,by standard, thereby announcing ‘‘a writer who brought a new 1966, Cal Tjader had released numerous Latin jazz albums, 18 kind of harmonic richness to big band arranging.’’ Charles Mingus, Tijuana Moods (1962, originally recorded Wilson moved to Los Angeles in 1940, and after a state- in 1957), and Herb Alpert, the pop party music of The Lonely side stint in the US Navy, returned there in 1944. After Bull (1962), Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2 (1963), South forming his first orchestra, he soon landed recording dates of the Border (1964), and similar albums in 1965 and 1966. and a string of performances across the country, to much Wilson infused American music with his deeply personal acclaim. In Los Angeles during the early 1950s, he played interpretation of Tijuana brass by producing ‘‘a separate a key early role in the movement to ‘‘amalgamate’’ the city’s strain of jazz ...based on the music of the ...bullfights.’’24 19 segregated black and white musicians’ union locals. Yet The respected jazz critic Leonard Feather acknowledged even after he broke into the old boys’ network at the Holly- wood motion picture studio orchestras, Wilson did not receive credit for his compositional contributions to films. His compositions As Horace Tapscott points out, even master writers were still getting ‘‘disrespected in the movie studios.’’20 Begin- merged Latin rhythms ning in the mid-1950s, Wilson began a self-described ‘‘com- with adventurous charts mercial period’’ during which, he stated, ‘‘I wanted to equip myself so that whatever kind of music my client wanted to and a blues spirit.

36 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM Wilson’s special affinity and ‘‘enchantment with Mexico, its down-home, head-nodding waltz in 3/4 time. It opens with music, its folkways, its mountains and bullfights, its gayety an organ riff rippling alongside a sultry drumbeat and back- and majesty, and most of all, its melodic contours.’’25 room bass line, then saunters off into a nearly seven-minute In 1948 Gerald married Josefina Villasenor,~ a Mexican long conversation between the horn sections, punctuated by American from Los Angeles who first met the bandleader a trumpet solo, an alto saxophone solo, and a churchy jazz backstage ‘‘as a fan of his, after one of his shows.’’26 Josefina organ solo. A shorter version received steady radio airplay has been his lifelong guide to things Mexican, and she took nationwide, and became part of a special Down Beat poll him ‘‘to his first bullfight in Tijuana, where Wilson devel- winners LP.35 You Better Believe It! illustrated that ‘‘Wilson oped his deep appreciation for’’ the corrida de toros. Josefina had already become one of the most distinguished compo- thereafter remained a source of support and inspiration, sers and arrangers of his era,’’ and ignited the fuse that set connecting him with the bullfight, which became a special off an explosion of ten California-label Gerald Wilson Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 passion.27 Mexicans, Wilson noted, are a very musical peo- Orchestra albums in ten straight years, eight on Pacific Jazz ple; he learned to hear the sounds when he’d be there with Records and two on World Pacific Jazz Records.36 the family; indeed, it became his other family and his other The Moment of Truth LP strutted on the scene in 1962 culture.28 He suggested one way to bridge the divides of with ‘‘Viva Tirado,’’ a funky Latin jazz classic with a catchy cultural authenticity when he remarked, ‘‘some of the num- theme, conga drumming, and jazz guitar written by Wilson bers I write, you wouldn’t think that a black guy had written in honor of Jose´ Ramon´ Tirado, a bullfighter from Mazatlan´ this. But ...[Josefina] had exposed me to the environment popular in Mexico and Spain during the 1950s and early and I could hear it. I heard ...such great music there in 1960s, whom Wilson had been following for years Mexico.’’29 As Wilson told a Los Angeles disc jockey, ‘‘It’s in Tijuana. Tirado ‘‘was very brave and he did beautiful compatible with my heritage and background ...My music passes,’’ Wilson remembers. The composer created the is a reflection of my past and present surroundings.’’30 rhythm of the music to represent the matador’s passes, the After repeated visits attending bullfights in Tijuana, he notes to capture his cape’s movement.37 Tirado ‘‘was sensa- eventually befriended some of the top matadors in Mexico, tional, had a lot of style’’ like a smooth jazz trumpeter, so and, Wilson said, ‘‘When I’d come in [the ring inside the Wilson tried to ‘‘paint’’ this thrilling young man ‘‘in plaza de toros], they’d all treat me like I’m part of the music.’’38 The Moment of Truth album illustrates Wilson’s group.’’31 Going back to the medieval Spanish origins of credo, ‘‘Both in life and music, I search only for the truth.’’39 the traditional custom, true fans cheer not the bull’s suffer- In addition to the title track’s juke joint big band blues, the ing, but the matador’s poise, finesse, and elegance during album also includes a tearing-it-up take on Miles Davis’s a dexterous ‘‘dance with death.’’32 Gerald Wilson is an hon- theme, ‘‘Milestones,’’ as well as ‘‘Latino,’’ a clave-guided, orary life member of ‘‘Los Aficionados de Los Angeles,’’ one blues-inflected Latin jazz original, and ‘‘Josefina,’’ a roman- chapter of an ‘‘exclusive [US] bullfighting club’’ that gave tic, cinematic jazz ballad that exemplifies the jazz master’s Wilson one of their annual awards for his contributions quest ‘‘for simplicity—but not simple-ness.’’40 In this ‘‘to the world of tauromaquia, the world of the bullfight.’’33 regard, ‘‘Wilson’s arrangements are never cluttered or One critic, after noting that the bandleader ‘‘developed complicated.’’41 a fascination for Mexico,’’ even argued that ‘‘Wilson affected A highlight of the 1963 album, Portraits, is ‘‘Paco,’’ with a Mexican persona; his on-stage and rehearsal demeanor its suave Latin syncopation, sinuously swinging, hypnotic with his orchestra is both commanding and exciting—not horns, bluesy piano and guitar, and imploring, tour de force unlike that of a great toreador.’’34 tenor saxophone. Wilson’s arrangement brings to life his musical portrait of another renowned matador, the Spaniard Paco Camino, whose ‘‘new stuff’’ ‘‘was out of sight.’’ As The 1960s Gerald Wilson Orchestra Wilson explains, ‘‘Bull fighting is not a sport ...It’s an art, Gerald Wilson’s powerhouse seventeen-piece big band continually evolving with new passes, new uses of the cape, came strong with its 1961 album, You Better Believe It! and new ways of confronting the bull, adding to the repertoire. its smooth theme song, ‘‘Blues for Yna Yna,’’ a laid-back, It’s very much like jazz. Paco was an artist. He improvised.’’42

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Gerald Wilson, cover close-up. Photographer: Peter Whorf. Gerald Wilson Orchestra,

The Golden Sword: Torero Impressions in Jazz (Pacific Jazz Records, 1966). COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS.

This album also includes ‘‘Caprichos,’’ reflecting Wilson’s Ortega, on alto saxophone, ‘‘Ricardo,’’ a vibes and organ study of Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. swinger, and ‘‘Lighthouse Blues,’’ a relaxed, cool composi- In 1963, the presented modern tion, as well as ‘‘El Viti,’’ an homage to Mexican bullfighter music from Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Santiago Mart´ın, whom Wilson calls ‘‘a great matador, dif- Davis, but Gerald Wilson, whom the writer Kirk Silsbee called ferent from any other I ever saw. He never smiled, and he ‘‘at the cutting edge of jazz orchestration,’’ earned a featured was tough. I tried [in the music] to trace a picture of him, as forum that weekend, and he ‘‘delivered an object lesson in the it gets down into a unique part where his stuff in the ring possibilities of big band music. Demanding time signatures, would get wild, but not overbearing.’’45 On ‘‘El Viti’’ Wilson multiple key changes, intricate harmonies and, above, all, uses two simultaneous time signatures, with the brass play- swing, were explored in a new and exciting way.’’43 To top off ing his patented eight-part harmony.46 Originally written such an impressive year, in 1963 Down Beat magazine’s inter- and arranged for Duke Ellington, this ballad showcases national critic’s poll voted Wilson’s big band number one.44 a poignant muted trumpet melodic line by Wilson, inter- In 1965, Wilson released the album Feelin’ Kinda Blues, rupted mid-song as Anthony Ortega leaps in whimsically, with big band covers of Herbie Hancock’s ‘‘Watermelon his alto saxophone solo twisting and turning from soul- Man’’ and Miles Davis’s ‘‘Freddie Freeloader.’’ For his searching to statement-making. The liner notes declared 1965 studio LP, On Stage, Wilson created ‘‘Los Moros de Anthony Ortega an ‘‘avant gardist’’ and ‘‘a new kind of Espana,’’~ a slinky Latin-tinged jazz number featuring the jazzman.’’47 Likewise, a later commenter admired ‘‘the bite brilliant Mexican American musician from Watts, Anthony and pungency’’ of Ortega’s free jazz.48

38 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM The bullfight continued to In essence, Wilson created ‘‘big band music unlike any- thing else being heard at the time,’’ and ‘‘the passion, the be a major inspiration. intensity and the drive of this music was unequalled.’’52 Although the Moment of Truth album was named after the climactic conclusion of a bullfight, when the matador avoids The bullfight continued to be a major inspiration, and in a mortal goring while precisely plunging the steel estoque 1966, Gerald Wilson released The Golden Sword: Torero blade between the bull’s shoulder blades, Gerald Wilson’s Impressions in Jazz, regarded by many critics as the best of love of Mexico and Mexican music coalesced in 1966 with his orchestra’s Pacific Jazz albums. On the red LP cover The Golden Sword, named after a torero’s highest accolade.53 stands the bandleader, arms folded, symbolically sur- rounded by Mexican bullfight posters. Wilson’s title track is a catchy Latin anthem that swaggers with dramatic trum- The Latin connection Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 49 pet brio and swings with soulful tenor sax lines. After Wilson wrote a looser, more up-tempo arrangement of his a jaunty, Latin-tinged version of the Broadway show tune, most well-known bullfighter ode, ‘‘Viva Tirado,’’ for the ‘‘Man of la Mancha,’’ comes Cuban songwriter Ernesto 1967 album, Live and Swinging, recorded at Marty’s, a South Lecuona’s ‘‘The Breeze and I,’’ with congas, a Latin vibes Central jazz venue owned by a Mexican American Angeleno, solo, and Brazilian guitarist playing fla- with an all-black clientele. From the visceral Afro-Cuban menco. ‘‘Carlos’’ is Wilson’s passionate, rousing tribute to bass line to the drummer’s percussive cowbells, the pia- Carlos Arruza, who was born in Mexico City to Spanish nist’s block chords, and the rattling maracas with parents, began his career as a professional torero at age the scratching gu¨iro, this live version’s Latin musical ele- fourteen, became one of the most dominant modern mata- ments added texture, density, and intensity. Three years dors in the 1940s, retired in 1953, and staged a spectacular, later, in 1970, the Mexican American soul/Latin rock band comeback as a rejoneador, fighting bulls on horseback. As El Chicano broke through into the mainstream with their congas and jazz drums lead the tropical rhythm, full- organ- and conga-heavy hit cover version of Gerald Wilson’s throated trumpet solos with Mexican mariachi phrasing ‘‘Viva Tirado.’’54 weave into six other trumpeters blaring in unison, and in Besides Wilson’s impact on local Chicano musicians, his brassy dialogue with the trombones and saxophones. The professional relationships with Latinos can be gleaned by tune became a requiem for one of the greatest bullfighters the fact that he consistently hired them for studio recording of all time when, four months after its release, Carlos sessions. For example, he contracted trumpeter Alex Rodri- 50 Arruza died in an automobile accident. guez, alto saxophonist Ramon Bojorquez, timbalero Adolpho Wilson’s up-tempo adaptation of Manuel de Falla’s Valdes, conguero, bongosero, and trumpeter Modesto Duran, theme from the ballet El Amor Brujo exhibits vibes, congas, conguero Max Garduno, and the gifted saxophone, piccolo, blasting trumpet and riffing sax sections, and a prancing, and flute player Anthony Ortega.AccordingtoOrtega, piercing double flute line by Anthony Ortega and African ‘‘Gerald’s writing kind of grabbed you. His chordal struc- American Angeleno William Green.51 Wilson’s ‘‘Mi Corazon tures, the way he voiced chords in the background. He knew (My Heart)’’ sports Latin rhythm and a light-hearted melody how to write to enhance the soloist.’’55 voiced by the simultaneous flutes of Green and Ortega. Ortega’s versatile woodwind work can be heard on the ‘‘Blues Latinese’’ represents swinging Latin jazz, Gerald 1968 LP California Soul, the cover of which, showing Wilson Wilson style, while his arrangement of a popular Mexican with a backdrop of tall palm trees near the beach, is credited standard, ‘‘La Mentira (The Lie),’’ builds a bolero rhythm to a photographer named George Rodriguez. Moreover, the with congas and bass. Finally, the LP debuts two parts of inner gatefold cover frames an original pen-and-ink illustra- an unfinished work, ‘‘Teotihuacan Suite,’’ inspired by the tion by an artist named A.C. Rodriguez, a stylish juxtaposi- ancient Toltec capital, with its pyramid and holy ruins, tion of a Spanish mission and the Watts towers, divided by northeast of Mexico City: ‘‘The Feather’’ (straight-ahead a winding freeway interchange, with mountains and an swing) and ‘‘The Serpent’’ (rip-roaring hard bop). ocean bay behind, and a hot sun and seagulls above.

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Gerald Wilson, cover close-up. Photographer: George Rodriguez. The Gerald Wilson Orchestra,

California Soul (World Pacific Jazz Records, 1968). COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS. The Mexican influence and Mexican American players and fashioning crisp, intelligent, surprising arrangements, continued on the album Everywhere, also from 1968, which Wilson’s style enhances the sound of the musicians who includes a version of ‘‘Out of This World,’’ ‘‘one of his most play it, like Duke Ellington’s, while his rhythmic charts complex arrangements,’’ replete with tempo changes, a Latin swung hard like Count Basie’s, ‘‘but allowed for more rhythm segment, and ‘‘the rich harmonies of Wilson’s exploratory soloing.’’63 ensemble writing.’’56 On ‘‘M. Capetillo,’’ Wilson ‘‘salutes Like Duke Ellington, Gerald Wilson is a righteous role Manuel Capetillo,’’ master of the muleta (red cape) from model, and his deliberately noncommercial musical philos- Jalisco, Mexico.57 With this dedication, ‘‘Capetillo joins the ophy can be glimpsed in his 1947 decision to abruptly dis- honorees in Wilson’s gallery of bullfighting heroes. Wilson band his popular orchestra at the pinnacle of considerable was in the stadium in Tijuana when Capetillo, the great success in order to study further. The bandleader walked muletero, fought his last bull on the eve of his retirement. away from short-term financial gain in the form of lucrative Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 The saxophones establish the bravery of his character, the guaranteed contracts to tour with Louis Jordan for fifteen trumpets the excitement of the contest.’’58 On side two weeks, record with Chicago’s Mercury Records for three Wilson hangs yet another portrait ‘‘in his toreador hall of years, and play the Apollo Theater twice a year for five fame’’ with the thoughtful, entrancing ‘‘Del Olivar,’’ ‘‘a tone years.64 Instead, Wilson held himself to his own higher poem with classical leanings.’’59 Wilson ‘‘paints a vivid por- standard, followed his own long-term plan, and set his own trait of the wonders and beauty of Mexico and the graceful priorities, thereby revealing his values and true character. movements of one of the most artistic matadors in the Because he ‘‘never got into music for recognition or world, Antonio Del Olivar,’’ with Ortega’s ‘‘alto flute— money,’’ he willingly sacrificed a higher salary by taking warm, full of exuberance, examining every line of this a sabbatical from the band business to meet his goals of beautiful theme with complete feeling and cognizance of further developing his orchestration and improving his Wilson’s every intent.’’60 skills, driven to ‘‘advance as a musician.’’ As he said, ‘‘I have Wilson’s 1969 LP, Eternal Equinox, features his original studied all my life. I’m still studying.’’65 song, ‘‘Pisces,’’ a sophisticated, wistful tune that turns on He intensively analyzed the techniques of modern com- a dime into a triple-time bop burner via Anthony Ortega’s posers ‘‘who used advanced and sophisticated harmo- focused free expression on alto saxophone and Bobby nics.’’66 His intention was not to imitate, but to broaden Hutcherson’s furious vibraphone solo, before suddenly his approach to jazz, for as he sagely states, ‘‘I didn’t want stopping, and effortlessly resuming the earlier moody mel- to try to write like Beethoven or Mozart, but I needed to ody. The Wilson original, ‘‘Scorpio Rising,’’ reveals a bebop know what they did. Villa-Lobos wrote like Villa-Lobos and disposition, a larger-than-life tone, and choice charts sup- I, in my own way, wanted to write like myself.’’67 Neverthe- porting Anthony Ortega on flute and an exciting solo by less, he eventually began composing classical symphonies, French jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. Wilson’s ‘‘Celestial many by commission. For instance, in 1972, Zubin Mehta Soul’’ rocks a hard-hitting drum rhythm, tenor sax wailing invited Wilson to compose an original symphony for the Los in the cut, Fender electric bass, Richard ‘‘Groove’’ Holmes Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and he was subsequently on Hammond B-3 organ, and a flute and piccolo refrain. commissioned to write four more symphonies for the LA Phil, accompanied by a 250-voice interdenominational choir. Composer extraordinaire, role model, music educator Wilson, who has been called ‘‘the complete profes- Gerald Wilson is ‘‘an innovator who crafts bold orchestral sional,’’ cautioned that jazz ‘‘is a very highly technical ideas that transcend style and era ...whose work is peren- music, requiring years to develop the skills necessary to play nially modern and, as Duke Ellington claimed, ‘beyond it. There are no short cuts.’’68 Consequently, he insisted, category.’’’61 In Wilson’s music, as John William Hardy ‘‘To be a professional, you have got to study hard ...to prac- wrote, ‘‘we feel the urgings of the negro spiritual and the tice and ...stay on it because the competition is tough.’’69 blues tradition,’’ as well as ‘‘the ‘tough tenor’ school’’ and Wilson was both a student of jazz and a teacher. He avant-garde jazz.62 By conceiving colorful compositions taught a two-part survey course, ‘‘The Development of Jazz,’’

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Gerald Wilson, back cover close-up. Photographer: George Rodriguez. The Gerald Wilson Orchestra,

California Soul (World Pacific Jazz Records, 1968). COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS. Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021

Gerald Wilson, inner gatefold cover close-up. Illustrator: A.C. Rodriguez. The Gerald Wilson Orchestra,

California Soul (World Pacific Jazz Records, 1968). COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS.

for thirty-eight years at California State University, North- students, making it ‘‘the largest jazz class in the world.’’70 ridge; California State University, Los Angeles; Cal Arts; and In the first term, students studied jazz history from ragtime finally at University of California, Los Angeles. By the time through swing; in the second, from bebop to the present. he retired from UCLA in 2008 as an adjunct assistant pro- While students learned ‘‘where jazz came from and when it fessor, he had won the Distinguished Teaching Award, and came and who did it,’’ Wilson didn’t limit his teaching to his ethnomusicology lecture enrolled over five hundred music: ‘‘I want to emphasize the difference between right and wrong,’’ he said. ‘‘You’ve got to be a good person to play jazz. ... You have got to be free so you can play and your You have got to be free goodness can come out.’’71 so you can play and your Young people would be wise to follow in the footsteps of Wilson, whose later recordings, performances, and compo- goodness can come out. sitions are a testament to his talent. For example, his 1999

BOOM | SUMMER 2013 43 piece, ‘‘Theme for Monterey,’’ was nominated for two cross-country, and his later sojourns into Baja California Grammy awards; his special 2007 album, , and other parts of Mexico support the argument that ‘‘jazz was composed entirely of original tunes commissioned for, music has been influenced by America’s ...values,’’ and by and premiered by Wilson at the Monterey Jazz Festival; and ‘‘dynamic cultural mappings and exchanges.’’76 Wilson’s his 2009 eight-movement suite, ‘‘Detroit,’’ was commis- narrative tells a tale of cross-cultural confluence and coop- sioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival in honor of its thirtieth eration, as a continuation of what historian Gary Nash called anniversary. He has remained productive late in his long, ‘‘the hidden history of mestizo America.’’77 At heart, Wil- distinguished career, recording the following CDs: State son’s story is a California story, that of an African American Street Sweet (1993), Theme for Monterey (1998), New York, migrant who moves out west, where he meets a Chicana New Sound (2003), In My Time (2005), Monterey Moods Angelena, starts a family, creates a swinging jazz big band (2007), Detroit (2009), and Legacy (2011). that hires unsung talent, and records and performs exclu- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 sively on the West Coast throughout the 1960s. Wilson first fell in love with Southern California while on For posterity: cross-cultural confluence tour as a trumpeter with Jimmie Lunceford, when he dozed There seems to be a perception among East Coast jazz off in the orchestra’s sleeping car amid cold, gray winter critics and academic experts that other than 1950s white weather but awoke to warm, sunny skies near San Bernadino. cool jazz, nothing of real importance happened in Califor- During the next thirty years, he would drive with his wife’s nia. As a result, ‘‘Except for West Coast jazz ...rarely is Los family from Los Angeles down to Tijuana, and he got to Angeles acknowledged as a setting that stimulated innova- know Mexico well. Thus, Wilson’s decades-spanning body tions or new developments. ...Jazz artists native to Los of work contains a Mexican strain, just as the first families Angeles (e.g., ) or those who migrated and who settled Los Angeles in 1781 were composed primarily of permanently settled in the city (e.g., Horace Silver) have blacks, mulattos, mestizos, and Indians; just as the unprec- been recognized but seldom are featured or highlighted in edented 1947 California Supreme Court case that invali- jazz scholarship.’’72 One Los Angeles trained scholar and dated the state’s anti-miscegenation law revolved around jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer blames California a black male and a Mexican American female married cou- for Wilson’s relative lack of renown: ‘‘Perhaps the lack of ple. Of his unique style, Wilson declared, ‘‘It’s meaty, it’s recognition is directly attributable to his long residence in deep, and it’s rooted in the history of black and Mexican Southern California’’ since ‘‘other than West Coast jazz, all people.’’78 Indeed, Wilson’s savory songbook consistently innovation is associated with New York City.’’73 absorbed Mexican flavors. By another account, Wilson has been ‘‘often overlooked’’ A case in point is Wilson’s 1981 album, . After by the ‘‘New York-centric jazz world’’ because he ‘‘never hit a recording hiatus during the 1970s, the bandleader the road,’’ preferring instead to make ‘‘time to compose and returned with a new big band for the 1980s, and Leonard enjoy his family,’’ and because he ‘‘never developed a taste Feather warmly welcomed back ‘‘the individuality of Gerald for self-promotion.’’74 Perhaps the Manhattan intelligentsia Wilson, the pervasive sense of drama, the creative force that —and some academics—did not understand Wilson’s surges through his every chart.’’79 The title track is the final references to Mexico and to bullfighters, did not respect his Wilson original in honor of a matador, in this case a trium- black and brown Angeleno musicians, or did not value his phant, tragic Mexican figure from Acapulco named Antonio humility. Perhaps they perceived his style as too casual by Lomelin. Like each of the toreros honored by Wilson, East Coast standards, despite his use of the violin, the harp- Lomelin represents the complex cultural significance of la sichord, and especially the piccolo and the flute, two instru- fiesta brava (the brave festival), the ritualistic, blood-and- ments that are rarely used in a big band.75 sand spectacle of men conquering fear and dodging death Any anti-California bias in the jazz canon reflects those by dominating one-ton rampaging beasts. Like a bullfighter wholookwestbutanalyzethewrongindicators.Gerald making a poetic pass, Wilson captured the artistry, gallantry, Wilson’s journeys, from Mississippi to Memphis, Detroit, and grace of the corrida de toros, with ‘‘Lomelin’’ featuring and Los Angeles, as well as his early-career travels touring trademark ‘‘emotional’’ trumpet solos.’’80 Once again,

44 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM ‘‘Gerald’s two consuming passions, for music and the corrida,’’ Nevada, and California during 2004 and 2005. As detailed were ‘‘magnificently welded,’’ and his ‘‘skill in the blending in two reports by the Southern Poverty Law Center, black of Mexican and jazz rhythms and colors’’ was on display.81 versus brown fights broke out in California high schools in Rialto, Oakland, San Jacinto, and, in Los Angeles, at Cren- shaw, Manual Arts, Jordan, and Jefferson high schools. Race, the state, and the arts in California Worse, since 1995 Latino gang members throughout Los Wilson’s cross-cultural bullfighter songs are symbolic, con- Angeles city and county have been engaging in antiblack sidering the influence of Mexican and Mexican American violence, especially aimed at African Americans moving culture in California, despite a history of anti-Mexican leg- into older barrios. As recently as 2006, Latino gangs were islation based on public sentiment, such as the 1855 Greaser involved in hate crimes against African Americans in Carls- 82 Act, which punished any unemployed Mexican as bad and Fresno. Gerald Wilson’s 1960s albums and his Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 a ‘‘vagrant,’’ and the Sunday Law, which banished Californio Mexican and Mexican American connections can lend his- horse races, cockfights, and bullfights. From the early torical perspective to, but will not necessarily help improve 1930s’ Mexican deportation campaigns to the early 1990s’ contemporary black-brown relations; nevertheless, these Proposition 187, California continually faced a supposed two groups will remain key players in the future of Califor- Mexican problem. While government officials and college nia, particularly within the continuing context of a post-civil brochures tout the state’s diversity, Gerald Wilson’s life rights backlash. story embodies the race mixing that has marked California A pragmatic prognosis, neither utopian nor dystopian, since its pre-statehood inception, and reflects the changing might suggest that for all its problems, California will con- demographic face of California, from Governor Ronald tinue to represent diversity and multiple perspectives.83 Reagan to Governor Pete Wilson, from Los Angeles Mayor Gerald Wilson’s musical recordings and performances facil- Tom Bradley to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Wilson’s life, itated this process, and shedding light on his 1960s output career, and musical compositions illustrate the promise of and his connections to Mexican culture reveals new chap- pluralism in California, and its potential to bring people ters in a black-brown hidden history, questioning why quin- together via the arts. Lest we too optimistically assess tessential California styles—even beyond jazz—do not earn California’s neoliberal multiculturalism, keep in mind that respect. As artist and LACMA curator emeritus Howard N. its black and brown youths are being confined to the state’s Fox notes, regarding ‘‘the mythic exoticism of California ... poorest public schools and warehoused in its increasingly in the popular imagination’’ as seen in a Time magazine privatized prison industry at numbers disproportionate to cover story, by the end of the 1960s the state had become their percentage in the population. ‘‘the hothouse for [America’s] most rousing fads, fashions, African Americans and Latinos/Latinas have often been trends, and ideas.’’ One of these included ‘‘the free and easy at odds in the ongoing aftermath of economic restructuring, California lifestyle, a notion of ample time and space, particularly as Latino immigrants achieve numerical major- in which casually clad folks go about their business at ities in previously black neighborhoods. Contentious con- a leisurely pace.’’84 flicts between the two groups flared up throughout the Historian James Gregory challenges ‘‘California’s claim nation, from Florida to North Carolina, New Jersey, Illinois, to uniqueness,’’ arguing, ‘‘The state’s transcendent cultural

Black versus brown fights broke out in California high schools in Rialto, Oakland, San Jacinto, and, in Los Angeles, at Crenshaw, Manual Arts, Jordan, and Jefferson high schools.

BOOM | SUMMER 2013 45 traditions, in particular, its capacity for innovation and For these and other reasons, Gerald Wilson should be change’’ is more ‘‘myth than ...fact.’’85 In contrast, other named California’s Honorary Composer Laureate, just as historians contend that ‘‘California has long been a seedbed classical composer Roy Harris was proclaimed the Honor- of experimentation and innovation,’’ and that it ‘‘serves as ary Composer Laureate of the State of California late in his a window on the future, both reflecting and anticipating life, during the late 1970s. Bestowing this title on Gerald powerful social forces that will profoundly affect the nation Wilson could raise awareness and generate discussion as a whole.’’86 about establishing a formal, official appointment with Whether or not you agree with notions of California’s a two-year term, modeled after the state Poet Laureate posi- exceptionalism, in which the Golden State is a forerunner tion. The first California poet laureate was named in 1915, or predictor of future trends, there remain ‘‘serious ques- but this unofficial lifetime title became an official position, tions about whether Californians still have the creativity established by an Assembly bill, in 2001. Under the man- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 to deal with the difficult challenges of living in a complex, agement of the California Arts Council, electronic applica- fast-paced, trend-setting, multiethnic state,’’ and to find tions are reviewed by a panel of experts, who then meet in solutions for the most pressing problems confronting the person to evaluate the top files, ranking them according to state today.87 four criteria, and sending the top three candidates to the Journalist and author Peter Schrag investigates ‘‘Califor- Governor’s office for additional vetting. After the Governor nia not as promise but as the embodiment of the American makes the final selection, the newly named California Poet future—the dream made flesh.’’88 Schrag disagrees with Laureate must be confirmed by the state Senate and, if Carey McWilliams’s famous description of California as approved, is limited to two terms. The California Poet Laure- the great exception, citing the busts that inevitably follow ate’s ‘‘mission is to advocate for the art of poetry in class- the booms, and the social ills and economic strife that rooms and boardrooms across the state ...to educate all have marred utopian visions,but,heacknowledges,‘‘it Californians.’’ During a two-year term, the Poet Laureate sometimes did a lot of things better (or at least did them ‘‘provides six public readings in urban and rural locations first).’’89 State librarian emeritus Kevin Starr, whose seven- across California, educates civic and state leaders about the volume history is collectively called Americans and the value of poetry and creative expression, and undertakes California Dream, argues that the United States has always a significant cultural project, with one of its goals being to looked at California ‘‘as a bellwether state,’’ one which bring poetry to students who might otherwise have little proves that ‘‘Americans of every cultural background can opportunity to be exposed.’’91 learn to live with and more importantly to respect each The city of Los Angeles created an official poet laureate other.’’90 position, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a composer Throughout his life, Gerald Wilson gave—and laureate position, as do the states of Connecticut, Missouri, received—respect, and, like California, he is iconoclastic and Arkansas, but not California. Creating a Composer Lau- and inspiring. A Wilson retrospective is timely and relevant, reate position comparable to the California Poet Laureate as it raises larger implications for, and connections to, con- appointment would make a statement about the significance temporary California, delves deeper into African American– of the arts. One of California’s previous Poet Laureates was Mexican American relations, and highlights the importance Al Young, an African American. Our current Poet Laureate of publicly funded music programs. Although Wilson’s is Juan Felipe Herrera, the son of migrant farm workers, high school training occurred in Detroit, comparable pro- Professor and Chair of the Creative Writing Department at grams could once be found in black and brown South Los the University of California, Riverside, and former National Angeles high schools like Jefferson and Jordan, which pro- Endowment for the Arts fellow, with a bachelor’s degree duced some of the bandleader’s Pacific Jazz players. Telling from UCLA, a master’s from Stanford University, and Wilson’s story helps us appreciate the power of the arts, the a master’s of fine arts from Iowa University. He is also an necessity of arts education, and the efficacy of professional actor, artist, playwright, photographer, musician, and an caliber musical training, offered for free, available to all activist on behalf of migrant and indigenous communities, Californians. and at-risk youth. Naming Gerald Wilson as Honorary

46 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM He kept his band loose, not tight.

Composer Laureate of the State of California would place his body of work in dialogue with that of Herrera, continu- ing a black and brown conversation that places relatively recent clashes between the two groups in a broader context, with the arts presented as one worthy potential path despite the socioeconomic devastationofdeindustrialization, from which neither group has completely recovered, while Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 stressing the contributions of Chicanos and African Americans. Although, as historian Ramon´ Gut´ıerrez writes, ‘‘ethnic studies scholarship’’ has moved beyond ‘‘contributionism,’’ Gerald Wilson, conducting. Liner, Live and Swinging: respectful recognition for excellence still matters.92 We The Gerald Wilson Orchestra Plays Standards and Blues (Pacific Jazz Records, 1967). COURTESY OF ANTHONY MACI´AS. need cultural role models. According to Anita Allen, multi- culturalism ‘‘requires affirmative efforts ...to insure that the cultural perspectives, histories, and contributions of factories will never return to California, but perhaps the minority groups receive appropriate emphasis. It also public school music and arts programs will, in a gradual requires efforts that aid the struggles of minority students reversal of the post-Civil Rights socially conservative racial to achieve up to their individual capacities.’’ In this concep- retrenchment, and the post-Proposition 13 antitax tion, the multicultural ideal forwards ‘‘the role model argu- sentiment. ment.’’ Despite the risk of ‘‘stereotyping minorities’’ as In the end, Gerald Wilson decided to stay in California positive, ‘‘perfectly authentic ethnics,’’ the everyday position for the higher quality of life, for the freedom to not only of real-life role models like Juan Felipe Herrera and Gerald raise his children without grueling one-night concert tours, Wilson as teachers and mentors could help Americans view but also to live as an artist, further developing and fully the national monolingual, universal, common culture from expressing his style. In typical southern California fashion, a hemispheric point of view, with California leading the Wilson allowed his musicians to express themselves with no way.93 hassles and no worries. Like Duke Ellington, he kept his By opening a window into a lifetime of black-brown dia- band loose, not tight, such that ‘‘if you miss a note, or you logue, Gerald Wilson’s honoring as Composer Laureate goof, or you’re late, I don’t care.’’95 In contrast to the type-A, would advance that discussion into the twenty-first century. stressed-out ethos in American culture, Wilson’s nondisci- It would also point toward California someday becoming, in plinarian, nontaskmaster leadership freed up and empow- David Theo Goldberg’s words, a state without racism, and hope- ered his players. As a conductor, he contended, ‘‘I believe fully augur a subtle shift in California’s ‘‘state personality, I can get more out of an orchestra.’’96 He certainly did his what the state ‘looks’ and ‘acts’ like, its very ‘demeanor’’’ own thing directing the band in performance: ‘‘I move. and its ‘‘sense of identity, of character through culture.’’94 I choreograph the music as I conduct.’’97 His unique con- Perhaps this symbolic signification smacks of wishful ducting method let him feel ‘‘the emotional qualities,’’ he thinking, but what if Poet and Composer Laureate role mod- explained; ‘‘It’s through my body language that I bring about els were coupled with a serious (re)commitment to publicly changes in tempo, coloration, and dynamics.’’98 supported K-12 arts education, and to guaranteed funding Wilson ever remains a consummate, innovative com- for the community college, California State University, and poser, a master of big band impressionism, a painter of tone University of California systems? The Firestone and Ford and timbre. As with of all his awards, Gerald Wilson is more

BOOM | SUMMER 2013 47 than worthy of the title, ‘‘California’s Composer Laureate,’’ 6 Alyn Shipton, ANewHistoryofJazz, Revised and Updated of being honored for his genius, greatness, and outstanding Edition (New York: Continuum, 2007), 375. achievements in the field of modern jazz, from San Fran- 7 Gerald Wilson is mentioned vis-a-vis` hard bop and organ-tenor cisco, where he lived and performed for two years, to Mon- sax combos in Mark Gridley, Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, 9th ed. (Prentice Hall, 2006), is mentioned in passing once in terey, where he appeared repeatedly, Hollywood, where he Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz (New York: Oxford University recorded with and recruited from the studio orchestras, and Press, 1997), is praised as talented and stylized in Ted Gioia, Hermosa Beach, where he played the Lighthouse Cafe. The West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945–1960 (New maestro’s inimitable style could be called ‘‘California Soul,’’ York: Oxford University Press, 1992), is praised for his trumpet but Wilson’s inspiration—and his worldview—is much solos with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra in Gunther Schuller, larger than the Golden State. It is quintessentially Ameri- The Swing Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), is men- tioned in passing six times in Robert Gordon, Jazz West Coast: can, like the jazz idiom he expressed himself in, and like the The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950s (London: Quartet Books, Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Mexican landscapes he immersed himself in, from Mexico’s 1986), and is profiled in K.O. Eckland, Jazz West, 1945–1985: The bullfight arenas to its pyramid peaks. Refined in technique A-Z Guide to West Coast Jazz Music (Cypress Grove Corp., 1986). and form, Gerald Wilson leaves a luminous legacy as a gifted 8 Kenny Burrell, ‘‘The Gerald Wilson Living Legends Music and communicator, an inventive instructor, a charismatic con- Lecture Series, featuring Buddy Collette,’’ Ralph J. Bunche Cen- ductor, and a splendid composer; touched by the muses, ter for African American Studies, University of California, Los sanctified and soulful. B Angeles, 21 May 2009. 9 Jeff Sultanof, ‘‘The Dozens: Essential Gerald Wilson,’’ http:// www.jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-essential-gerald-wilson; Gerald Wilson, National Public Radio, Jazz Profiles, as quoted in Notes Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings,2. 1 For their assistance in the conceptualization, research, writing, 10 The clave is a syncopated 3/2, or, less often, 2/3 rhythmic pat- and rewriting of this article, I thank Daniel Widener, Robin D. tern over two bars essential to many aspects of traditional G. Kelley, Connie Martin Rivera, Aaron Bittel, Maureen Russell, Cuban music, including arranging, phrasing, and improvising. Carolyn de la Pena,AbbyWasserman,andtheanonymous~ Played by striking a small wooden block, but often only implied, outside reviewers. it establishes a framework or point of reference for various Latin 2 Eric Porter, What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: African American rhythms. Wilson let his Latino musicians ‘‘take care of’’the Musicians As Artists, Critics, and Activists (Berkeley: University of ‘‘percussion section.’’Gary Walker, interview with Gerald California Press, 2002), xvii. Wilson, http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article_print.php? 3 Zan Stewart, ‘‘Gerald Wilson’s One-Two Punch,’’ Down Beat 64, id¼2018, posted October 2003. According to trumpeter Bobby no. 1 (January 1997): 32; Brick Wahl, ‘‘Gerald Wilson at the Central Rodriguez, a Chicano musician hired by Wilson in the 1980s, Avenue Jazz Festival,’’ http://brickwahl.com/2012/03/28/gerald- ‘‘As opposed to ...the Machito or approach ... wilson-at-the-central-avenue-jazz-festival/; Jerry D’Souza, ‘‘Gerald to the Afro-Cuban, Gerald approaches it from the harmonic Wilson: The Artist Selects (2005),’’ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ sense.’’ Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings,7. php/article.php? id¼19762; Al Fox, KPCC-FM, Los Angeles, 11 Walker, interview with Gerald Wilson. liner notes, Live and Swinging: The Gerald Wilson Orchestra Plays 12 John Norris, ‘‘Gerald Wilson: Moment of Truth,’’ Coda no. 248 Standards and Blues (Pacific Jazz Records, 1967). (1993): 16. 4 ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ http://www.mamajazz.org/pages/biogerald. 13 Mark Stryker, ‘‘Still Swingin,’’’ Detroit Free Press, 29 August html. 2004, Entertainment Section, 3 M, Gerald Wilson Commercial 5 John Tynan, ‘‘Gerald Wilson: Facing Challenges,’’ Down Beat Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_Folder 01, Ethnomusicol- 29, no. 1 (4 January 1962): 18. See also Leonard Feather, The ogy Archive, University of California, Los Angeles. New Edition of the (Bonanza Books, 1965); 14 Marc Myers, ‘‘Interview: Gerald Wilson,’’ http://www.jazzwax. Ron Wyn, et al., eds., All Music Guide to Jazz: The Best CDs, com/2011/07/interview-gerald-wilson.html, posted 20 July 2011. Albums, and Tapes (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 15 Norris, ‘‘Moment of Truth,’’ 16. 1994); Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclo- 16 pedia of Jazz (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Barry Walker, interview with Gerald Wilson. Kernfeld, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2d ed. (New 17 James M. Manheim, ‘‘Gerald Wilson Biography,’’ http://biog York: Grove’s Dictionaries, Inc., 2002). raphy.jrank.org/pages/2493/Wilson-Gerald.html.

48 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM 18 John Tynan, ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ BMI: The Many Worlds of Music Wilson Orchestra, Eternal Equinox (World Pacific Jazz Records, (March 1970): 20; Doug Ramsey, liner notes, The Complete 1969). Pacific Jazz Recordings of Gerald Wilson and his Orchestra 31 Walker, interview with Gerald Wilson. (Mosaic Records, 2000), 1, Gerald Wilson Commercial Record- 32 Wilson’s favorite moment of the corrida is the indulto, the rare ings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ARCD, 673–677, Ethnomusicol- pardon granted to spare a particularly valiant bull’s life. As ogy Archive, University of California, Los Angeles. Wilson recounts, ‘‘The man has now won, and ...all of a sudden 19 On the amalgamation of the South Central and Hollywood he’ll just throw everything down—he’s on his knees, looking musician union locals, and Gerald Wilson’s role in it, see Clora right at the bull. The bull is frozen.’’ Burk, ‘‘Gerald Wilson Bryant, et al., eds., Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles interview.’’ On the definition of ‘‘bullfighting as a type of dra- (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). matic ballet dance with death,’’ see Mario Carrion,´ ‘‘The Span- 20 Horace Tapscott, interview by Steven Isoardi, 1993, #300/484, ish Fiesta Brava: Historical Perspective and Definition,’’ http:// Central Avenue Sounds, Oral History Program, Department of coloquio.com/toros/bullhist.html. Special Collections, Young Research Library, University of Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 33 On Wilson being an honorary life member of ‘‘Los Aficionados California, Los Angeles. de Los Angeles,’’ see Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz 21 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 3; Mike Recordings,5. Joyce, ‘‘Gerald Wilson’s Jazz Legacy: A Pioneering Band Leader 34 Robert Dupuis, ‘‘Gerald Wilson Biography,’’ http://www. Still Pushes the Limits,’’ Washington Post, 5 June 1996, Style musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000589/Gerald- Section, ‘‘Spotlight’’ Column, C 7. Wilson.html. 22 See John Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin 35 John William Hardy, liner notes, The 17 Piece Orchestra of American Music on the United States, 2d ed. (New York: Oxford Gerald Wilson featuring the jazz organ of Richard ‘‘Groove’’ University Press, 1999). First published 1979. See also Raul´ Holmes, You Better Believe It! (Pacific Jazz Records, 1961), Gerald Fernandez,´ Latin Jazz: The Perfect Combination/La Combinacion´ Wilson Commercial Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ Perfecta (San Francisco: Chronicle Book/Smithsonian Institu- ARLP, 16854, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of Califor- tion, 2002). nia, Los Angeles. 23 Leonard Feather, ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ International Musician 62, 36 C. Andrew Hovan, review of The Complete Pacific Jazz Record- no. 1 (July 1963): 45. ings of Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra (Mosaic Records, 2000), 24 Kirk Silsbee, ‘‘Master Roots: Gerald Wilson Goes Time Travel- http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r1100_176.htm, posted 1 ing to Reveal the Sources of his Jazz Orchestral Genius,’’ Down November 2000. Beat (January 2006): 46, Gerald Wilson Commercial Record- 37 Molly Murphy, interview with Gerald Wilson, for the National ings and Ephemera, 2008.02_Folder 01, Ethnomusicology Endowment for the Arts, http://www.nea.gov/national/jazz/ Archive, University of California, Los Angeles. jmCMS/interview.php? id¼1990_03, posted 25 October 2006. 25 Leonard Feather, liner notes, The Golden Sword: Torero Impres- 38 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 5; Walker, sions in Jazz (Pacific Jazz Records, 1966). interview with Gerald Wilson. 26 Josefina Wilson, conversation with the author, ‘‘The Gerald 39 Hardy, liner notes, Moment of Truth. Wilson Living Legends Music and Lecture Series, featuring 40 Buddy Collette,’’ Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Ibid. Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 21 May 2009. 41 Eliot Tiegel, liner notes, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Portraits More than just Wilson’s Mexican muse, Josefina is also the (Pacific Jazz Records, 1963), Gerald Wilson Commercial ‘‘copyist for the band.’’ As Wilson explains, ‘‘We had to work Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ARLP, 16855, Ethnomu- hard for what we got, and she’s done it all, and I’m very proud of sicology Archive, University of California, Los Angeles. her.’’ Gerald Wilson, Suite Memories, disc 2, track #23, ‘‘Reflec- 42 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings,7. tions.’’ 43 Kirk Silsbee, liner notes, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Theme 27 Greg Burk, ‘‘Gerald Wilson interview,’’ LA Weekly, http://www. for Monterey (MAMA Records, 1998), as quoted in Steven Cerra, metaljazz.com/2006/01/gerald_wilson_interview_2004.php, ‘‘Gerald Wilson – Then and Now: Part 2,’’ http://jazzprofiles. posted 17 June 2004. blogspot.com/2009/07/gerald-wilson-then-and-now-part-2. 28 Murphy, interview with Gerald Wilson. html, posted 15 July 2009. 29 Walker, interview with Gerald Wilson. 44 Tiegel, liner notes, Portraits; Anatol Schenker, liner notes, 30 Al ‘‘Steve-O’’ Stevenson, KTYM-FM, Los Angeles, ‘‘A Telephone Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra, 1946–1954 [The Classics Chro- Conversation with Gerald Wilson,’’ liner notes, The Gerald nological Series, #1444] (Classics Records, 2007).

BOOM | SUMMER 2013 49 45 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 8–9. Norris, ‘‘Moment of Truth,’’ 16; Gary Vercelli, ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ 46 Kirk Silbee, liner notes, Gerald Wilson, Suite Memories: Reflec- Jazz Journal International 41, no. 10 (1988): 12. tions on a Jazz Journey, Collector’s Edition, a spoken-word dou- 64 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 2; Silbee, ble album & scrapbook (MAMA Foundation, 1996), 10, Gerald liner notes, Suite Memories,8. Wilson Commercial Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ 65 Gerald Wilson, Suite Memories, as quoted in Stewart, ‘‘One-Two ARCD, 669–670, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of Punch,’’ 32; Silbee, liner notes, Suite Memories, 8–9; Bryant, California, Los Angeles. et al., Central Avenue Sounds, 327. 47 John William Hardy, liner notes, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, 66 Norris, ‘‘Moment of Truth,’’ 17. On Stage (Pacific Jazz Records, 1965), Gerald Wilson Commer- 67 Gerald Wilson, interviewed by Horace Mansfield, Jr., KPFA, 94. cial Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ARLP, 16856, Ethno- 1 FM Pacifica radio station, Berkeley, CA, as quoted in Vercelli, musicology Archive, University of California, Los Angeles. ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ 12; Bryant, et al., Central Avenue Sounds, 336; 48 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings,8. Dance, ‘‘Genius at Work,’’ 5. Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 49 The Golden Sword title track evokes ‘‘the pageantry of the bull 68 Dance, ‘‘Genius at Work,’’ 22; Norris, ‘‘Moment of Truth,’’ 17. ring,’’ See Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Record- 69 Fred Jung, ‘‘A Fireside Chat with Gerald Wilson,’’ http://www. ings,10. allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php? id¼622, posted 10 October 2003. 50 Feather, liner notes, The Golden Sword; Ramsey, liner notes, 70 Murphy, interview with Gerald Wilson; The UCLA Herb Alpert Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 10; http://www.britannica. School of Music, Department of Ethnomusicology, Spring com/EBchecked/topic/36192/Carlos-Arruza. 2008Newsletter,10;Stewart,‘‘One-TwoPunch,’’32;Jung, 51 Doug Ramsey argues that Wilson’s ‘‘Song of the Mad Fire’’ ‘‘Fireside Chat.’’ arrangement ‘‘is markedly different from that of Gil Evans for 71 Jung, ‘‘Fireside Chat.’’ Miles Davis’’ on their ‘‘Will O’ the Wisp’’ from Sketches of Spain, 72 Eddie Meadows, ‘‘Clifford Brown in Los Angeles,’’ Black Music and that Wilson ‘‘transforms Falla’s delicate theme of regret Research Journal 31, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 45. into a blues-like waltz.’’ See Ramsey, liner notes, Complete 73 Dwight Dickerson, ‘‘Jazz in Los Angeles: The Black Experience,’’ Pacific Jazz Recordings, 10. Black Music Research Journal 31, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 184, 190. 52 Norris, ‘‘Moment of Truth,’’ 17. 74 Stryker, ‘‘Still Swingin,’’ 3 M. 53 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 10. 75 The piccolo and the flute were two instruments ‘‘you never 54 See also Oliver Wang, ‘‘The Journey of ‘Viva Tirado’: A Musical heard too much in a big band.’’ Anthony Ortega, interview by Conversation within Afro-Chicano Los Angeles,’’ Journal of Pop- the author, Encinitas, Calif., 10 August 2012. ular Music Studies 22, issue 4 (December 2010): 348–366. 76 Robert G. O’Meally, ed., The Jazz Cadence of American Culture 55 Marc Myers, interview with Anthony Ortega, 13 January 2012, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), xiv. http://www.jazzwax.com/2012/01/interview-anthony-ortega- 77 Gary B. Nash, ‘‘The Hidden History of Mestizo America,’’ part-4.html. The Journal of American History 82, no. 3 (December 1995): 56 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 12; Leroy 941–964. Robinson, liner notes, Everywhere (Pacific Jazz Records, 1968), 78 Vercelli, ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ 12. Gerald Wilson Commercial Recordings and Ephemera, 2008. 79 Leonard Feather, liner notes, Gerald Wilson Orchestra of the 02_ARLP, 16860, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of ’80 s, Lomelin (Trend/Discovery Records, 1981), Gerald Wilson California, Los Angeles. Commercial Recordings and Ephemera, 2008.02_ARLP, 57 Robinson, liner notes, Everywhere. 16861, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of California, Los 58 Ramsey, liner notes, Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings, 12. Angeles. 80 59 Ibid., 13. Sultanof, ‘‘The Dozens.’’ 81 60 Robinson, liner notes, Everywhere. Feather, liner notes, Lomelin. 82 61 Silbee, liner notes, Suite Memories,1. Susy Buchanan, ‘‘Tensions Mounting Between Blacks and Latinos Nationwide,’’ Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence 62 Hardy, liner notes, On Stage. Report Issue No. 118 (Summer 2005), http://www.splcenter. 63 Schenker, liner notes, Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra, 1946– org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/ 1954; Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to summer/the-rift; Brentin Mock, ‘‘Latino Gang Members in Jazz on CD, as quoted in Cerra, ‘‘Then and Now: Part 2;’’ Southern California are Terrorizing and Killing Blacks,’’

50 BOOMCALIFORNIA.COM Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, no. 124 (Win- 91 http://www.loc.gov/rr/main/poets/california.html; http:// ter 2006), http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence- www.cac.ca.gov/programs/poetlaureate.php. report/browse-all-issues/2006/winter/la-blackout. 92 Ramon´ Gut´ıerrez, ‘‘Ethnic Studies: Its Evolution in American 83 Stephanie Barron, Sheri Bernstein, and Ilene Susan Fort, eds., Colleges and Universities’’ in Multiculturalism: A Critical Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900–2000 (Berke- Reader, ed. David Theo Goldberg (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, ley: University of California Press, and the Los Angeles County Inc., 1994), 164. Museum of Art, 2000), 27, 43, 44. 93 Anita Allen, ‘‘On Being a Role Model,’’ in Multiculturalism: A 84 Ibid., 193, 202. Critical Reader, 181–82, 192. 85 James N. Gregory, ‘‘The Shaping of California History,’’ in 94 David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State (Oxford: Blackwell Pub- Sucheng Chang and Spencer Olin, eds., Major Problems in Cali- lishers, Inc., 2002), 244, 245. fornia History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997), 17, 27. 95 Wilson, Suite Memories, disc 2, track #24, ‘‘My Band Philoso- 86

Chang and Olin, Major Problems in California History,1. phy.’’ Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/boom/article-pdf/3/2/34/381421/boom_2013_3_2_34.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 87 Ibid., v, vi. 96 Dance, ‘‘Genius at Work,’’ 22. 88 Peter Schrag, Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s 97 , ‘‘Trumpeter Gerald Wilson: Blowing Strong,’’ Future (New York: The New Press, 1998), 27. interview on ‘‘ from WHYY,’’ National Public Radio, 89 Ibid., 51–52. original airdate, 5 September 2006. 90 As quoted in Ibid., 281. 98 Vercelli, ‘‘Gerald Wilson,’’ 13.

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