Tom Wilson | |
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 Tom Wilson (right) withBob Dylan (left), recording "Like a Rolling Stone", 1965 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. (1931-03-25)March 25, 1931 Waco, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | September 6, 1978(1978-09-06) (aged 47) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Record producer |
| Years active | 1956–1978 |
| Labels |
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Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. (March 25, 1931 – September 6, 1978)[1][2][3] was an Americanrecord producer. He is best known for his work in the 1960s with artists such asBob Dylan,Frank Zappa andthe Mothers of Invention,Simon & Garfunkel,the Velvet Underground,Cecil Taylor,Sun Ra,Eddie Harris,Nico,Eric Burdon andthe Animals,the Blues Project,the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and others.
Wilson was born inWaco, Texas on March 25, 1931, to parents Thomas and Fannie Wilson (née Brown).[1][2] He attendedA.J. Moore High School in Waco and was a member of New Hope Baptist Church.[2] Wilson attendedFisk University before transferring toHarvard University, where he became involved in the Harvard New Jazz Society, radio stationWHRB, and was president of theYoung Republicans.[3] He graduatedcum laude from Harvard in 1954.[2]
After university, Wilson borrowed $500 (equivalent to $5,869 in 2024) to set upTransition Records, having a goal in mind of setting up a record label and recording the most advancedjazz musicians of the day.[4] The label released about a dozen albums, includingSun Ra'sJazz By Sun Ra (retitledSun Song when reissued in 1968), which was Ra's first LP (a second LP of Transition material remained unreleased until 1968), and the albumJazz Advance byCecil Taylor, which was Taylor's debut release. Transition also released the first sessions led byDoug Watkins,Donald Byrd, andHerb Pomeroy. The label went bankrupt in 1957 and the catalog was sold off to theBlue Note andDelmark Records. Wilson's work with Transition Records helped him obtain a job withUnited Artists Records in 1957.[5] He worked as a producer for jazz labels, includingSavoy Records, for whom he again recorded Sun Ra in 1961.[6]
As a staff producer atColumbia Records, Wilson was one of the "midwives" offolk-rock, producing three of Bob Dylan's key 1960s albums:The Times They Are a-Changin',Another Side of Bob Dylan, andBringing It All Back Home, along with the 1965single, "Like a Rolling Stone."[7] Wilson also produced the final four tracks Dylan recorded forThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, after he replacedJohn Hammond as Dylan's producer in 1963.[8]
Wilson producedSimon & Garfunkel's 1964 debut LPWednesday Morning, 3 A.M. which included "The Sound of Silence". Seizing on local radio interest in the song inFlorida and inspired by the huge success ofthe Byrds'folk-rock version of Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man", Wilson took the duo's original acoustic track and, without Simon's or Garfunkel's knowledge, overdubbed electric instruments, turning the track into a #1 pop hit, helping to launch the folk-rock genre.[citation needed] Simon and Garfunkel, who had already split, reunited after the hit and went on to greater success.[9]
After working with Wilson, both Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel worked with another Columbia staff producer,Bob Johnston, who produced several albums for both acts.
In 1966, Wilson signedthe Mothers of Invention toVerve Records and was credited as producer on the group's debut albumFreak Out!
Also in 1966, afterthe Animals split from producerMickie Most, Wilson became their producer, which continued until the original band broke up in 1967. Wilson also producedthe Velvet Underground, featuringLou Reed andJohn Cale. AlthoughAndy Warhol is credited as the producer of the group's debut album,The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), Cale credits Wilson as the true producer, as Warhol was mostly absent from the sessions.[citation needed] Wilson was credited only for the production of the song's opening track, "Sunday Morning", which had been released as a single in 1966 prior to the album's release. Wilson also produced the Velvet Underground's second album,White Light/White Heat (1968) and was officially credited as that album's producer (the band having parted ways with Warhol prior to its recording). Wilson resigned from MGM Records (then owner of Verve) prior to the release ofWhite Light/White Heat and did not work with the Velvet Underground thereafter.
Another of Wilson's Verve production credits wasthe Blues Project's first studio albumProjections (1966) featuringAl Kooper (with whom Wilson had previously worked on Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone") as vocalist and keyboard player. Wilson co-produced theSoft Machine's eponymousfirst album withChas Chandler in 1968.
Wilson was an important producer of the 1960s, alongside his contemporaries (includingPhil Spector,George Martin,Jimmy Miller,Brian Wilson,Quincy Jones,Tom Dowd, andTeo Macero). He has been said to have had the skill of "putting the right people together for the right projects".[10] Grammy-winning producerIan Brennan wrote in Tape Op Magazine, "That an African American man played a massive and pivotal role in three seminal musical forms seemingly dominated by Caucasian artists – folk rock, prog rock, and proto-punk – is one of the most tragically untold stories in popular music’s history."[11]
Wilson made an important contribution to Dylan's rock and roll sound, producing his first rock recordings onBringing It All Back Home. In the 1969Rolling Stone Interview,Jann Wenner asked, "There's been some articles on Wilson and he says that he's the one that gave you the rock and roll sound. Is that true?" Dylan: "Did he say that? Well if he said it... [laughs] more power to him. [laughs] He did to a certain extent. That is true. He did. He had a sound in mind".[12]
Frank Zappa spoke highly of Wilson, who produced the Mothers of Invention's first two albumsFreak Out! andAbsolutely Free:
Tom Wilson was a great guy. He had vision, you know? And he really stood by us ... I remember the first thing that we recorded was "Any Way the Wind Blows," and that was okay. Then we did "Who Are the Brain Police?" and I saw him through the glass and he was on the phone immediately to New York going, "I don't know!" Trying to break it to 'em easy, I guess ...Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album.[13]
Wilson died of aheart attack inLos Angeles in 1978, aged 47. He was buried at the Doris Miller Memorial Park inMcLennan County, Texas.[2]
Wilson appears as a minor character (portrayed by Eric Berryman) in the 2024 Bob Dylan biographical filmA Complete Unknown.
Born March 25, 1931 in Waco, TX.
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