After leaving Detroit and arriving in Los Angeles,
Gerald Wilson formed his first big band in 1944. By 1946 he was firmly established as a fine trumpet player, arranger, and composer, and was developing a style fit not only for modern jazz, but also eventually film scores. The dramatics apropos for both formats is evident on this second installment of
Wilson's chronological recordings for the
Classics reissue label, culled from recordings originally on the
Black & White,
United Artists,
Excelsior,
Federal,
King, and
Audio Lab labels. There are five different mid-sized orchestras with musicians from L.A., all quite literate and displaying different areas of expertise, and
Wilson writes with each player's individual sound in mind. Of course they work as a unified whole, and you get to hear a lot of
Wilson's trumpet work. The
Black & White sessions from 1946 have the band swinging very hard on the happy bop-bop
"Et-ta," while hoppin' and barkin' for
"The Saint." The opposite slow side is shown on
"Pensive Mood" and the sad, dreary
"The Moors." These tracks feature then-young trombonist, composer, and arranger
Melba Liston, who of course would go on to great acclaim. Recordings from 1947 for
United Artists and
Excelsior feature vocalist
Dan Grissom and there's a finger-snappin' group vocal with
Grissom,
Liston, and
Trummy Young,
"Va-ance," that approaches the territory of
the Modernaires. Four more for
Excelsior in 1949 reveal
Wilson moving into film noir, hinted at by the spy movie piece
"Dissonance in Blues" from the 1947 cuts, but more pronounced here.
Wilson is assertive on his horn, and ramps up the dramatic tension on the stairstep motif of
"The Black Rose" while also offering an expanded version of
"Guarachi-Guaro," the second section infusing expansive oboe and flute. Here the outstanding West Coast alto saxophonist
Buddy Collette also enters the fray. Jumping up to 1954,
Wilson offers up three two-part pieces all prominently showcasing the exotic vibrato flute sound of
Bill Green -- the hot and spicy
"Mambo Mexicano," dynamic up-and-down desert dune caravan-ish
"Algerian Fantasy," and slow-as-sunset
"Lotus Land." These are much more provocative, but in addition, the band is loaded with all-stars like trumpeter
Clark Terry, trombonist
Britt Woodman, tenor saxophonists
Paul Gonsalves and
Teddy Edwards, and a very young
Jerry Dodgion on alto sax. These cuts use pronounced world music elements in a way that
Duke Ellington hinted at, and all are exuberant and levitating. The remaining pieces are the contradictory titled hard bopper
"Romance," Khachaturian's famous Spanish classical ballad
"Bull Fighter," and a different
"Black Rose" (unknown author) than the one written by
Wilson heard earlier on the CD. This collection really drives home how this group, unique unto itself, was able to stretch stereotypical big-band jazz and take it into a new arena, fueled by the vast imagination of
Gerald Wilson. The only unsolved mystery: unattributed credits about various clearly audible Latin percussionists who are never identified. ~ Michael G. Nastos
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