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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWILDER, Joe(b 22 February 1922, Colwyn PA; d 9 May 2014) Trumpet, flugelhorn. He combined classical training with jazz in a low- profile career, highly regarded by other musicians. He was drafted in 1943 while touring with Lionel Hampton, joined the Marines and was one of the first 20,000 African Americans ever to become Marines, training under harsh conditions at Montford Point Camp in Jacksonville NC. He qualified as a sharpshooter and was about to be sent overseas to combat when composer Bobby Troup, Morale Officer at the camp, had him transferred to the headquarters band, eventually to become Assistant Bandmaster, then discharged as a technical sergeant in 1946. He played with Les Hite, Lionel Hampton, Jimmie Lunceford etc; settled in NYC '47; worked with Noble Sissle, in Broadway pit bands; studied with Joseph Alessi, first trumpet in Toscanini's NBC Symphony, played Bach under conductor Jonel Perlea, etc. He was featured on Count Basie's Softly With Feeling '54; played in film soundtrack The Wild Party '56; ABC network staff musician '57-73 (played in bands on Jack Paar and Dick Cavett shows), then back to Broadway. He played first chair with Symphony of the New World '65-71, at Colorado Jazz Party from '72. He was also a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and honored by the National Endowment for the Arts with its NEA Masters Award. He sessioned in concerts and/or records with the New York Philharmonic, Benny Goodman (including the USSR tour '62), big-band recording sessions with Ralph Burns, Jimmy Giuffre; also Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Roberta Flack, Charles Mingus (Let My People Hear Music), etc. A Golden Crest LP '63 included Alec Wilder's Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, written for Joe (no relation). He played beautifully on pieces commissioned by Brandeis U. '57 (now on Birth Of The Third Steam; see Gunther Schuller). He soloed with immaculate tone and selection of notes, never too many: 'You try not to trample on a nice melody.' His own records on Savoy and Columbia are long out of print; he played on Benny Carter: A Gentleman And His Music, co-led quintet album Hangin' Out with Joe Newman and Hank Jones, both on Concord. His first album as a leader in 30 years was Alone With My Dreams '96 on Evening Star, a tiny independent in New Jersey. In 2023 Technical Sergeant Joseph B. Wilder was posthumously presented with the Montford Point Congressional Gold Medal. |