Joe Lee Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1935-12-22)December 22, 1935 Bristow, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 2011(2011-07-17) (aged 75) Brighton, England |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation | Singer |
Joe Lee Wilson (December 22, 1935 – July 17, 2011)[1] was an Americanjazz singer fromBristow, Oklahoma, who lived in Europe since 1977.[2]
Part African-American and partCreek Native American,[3] Wilson was born in Bristow, Oklahoma, to farming parents Stella and Ellis Wilson.[1]
As his band's name, Joy of Jazz, suggests, Wilson'sbaritone personified the life-affirming nature ofjazz andblues. SeeingBillie Holiday perform in 1951 began his interest in a music-industry career. Moving toLos Angeles at the age of 15, he went to Los Angeles High School, where he majored in music and sang in an a cappella choir. Graduating with honors in 1954, he won a scholarship to theLos Angeles Conservatory of Music, where he studied opera, leaving after a year and then attendingLos Angeles Junior College.[4] He began singing with local bands in 1958 and toured the West Coast, where he sat in withSarah Vaughan,[5] and down to Mexico. Relocating to New York in 1962,[2] he worked withSonny Rollins,Lee Morgan,Miles Davis,Pharoah Sanders,Freddie Hubbard, andJackie McLean. During the 1970s, Wilson operated a jazz performance loft in New York'sNoHo district known as theLadies' Fort at 2 Bond Street. His regular band, Joe Lee Wilson Plus 5, featured thealto saxophonistMonty Waters (fromModesto, California) and for several years the Japanese guitaristRyo Kawasaki, before the latter left to lead his own group. Archie Shepp and Eddie Jefferson were frequent collaborators at these sessions.
He also sang withEddie Jefferson,Freddie Hubbard, andKenny Dorham.
Wilson had a minor radio hit from a live radio recording he did on a radio program hosted by Sharif Abdus-Salaam (né Ed Michael) atWKCR-FM,Columbia University, on July 16, 1972. The live shot was released as an album,Livin' High Off Nickels & Dimes, on the short-livedOblivion Records in New York. Wilson's rendition ofNorman Mapp's "Jazz Ain't Nothing But Soul" was a radio hit on New York jazz radio in 1975.[6]
In 1977 he and his English wife Jill Christopher moved to Europe.[3] While based inParis,Tokyo, and the United Kingdom (for a time living in theLondon flat ofVal Wilmer, before settling inBrighton,Sussex),[3] he recorded regularly with the American pianistKirk Lightsey, including the Candid recordingFeelin' Good. One of Wilson's last albums was an Italian recording with Riccardo Arrighini andGianni Basso,Ballads for Trane (Philology W707.2).
Wilson was inducted into theOklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in November 2010, where he gave his last public performance.[7] Having had heart surgery in 2009,[8] he died ofcongestive heart failure at his Brighton home in 2011, aged 75.[1]
Wilson is the subject of a documentary film,Around Joe Lee, by Yves Breux and Brad Scott.[9]
WithClifford Jordan
WithMtume
WithArchie Shepp
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