Joe Wilder

Infobox musical artist
Name = Joe Wilder


Img_capt = Left to right: John Webber, Joe Wilder and Lewis Nash
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = birth date and age|1922|2|22|mf=y
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Origin = Colwyn, Pennsylvania, USA
Instrument = Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Voice_type =
Genre = Jazz, Swing music
Occupation = Musician, Bandleader, Composer,
Years_active = 1940s – Present
Label = Savoy, Columbia, Evening Star
Associated_acts = Lionel Hampton
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
Benny Carter
Billie Holiday
Lena Horne
Johnny Mathis
Harry Belafonte
Tony Bennett
URL =
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Past_members =
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Joe Wilder (born February 22, 1922 in Colwyn, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He best known for his beautiful tone and lyrical style.

Wilder was awarded the Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award in 2006. [ [http://www.temple.edu/boyer/JazzMasters2006.htm Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award] ] The National Endowment for the Arts honored Joe Wilder with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 2008. [ [http://arts.endow.gov/national/jazz/jazz08/index.html 2008 NEA Jazz Masters Awards] ]

Biography

Wilder was born into a musical family led by his father Curtis, a bassist and bandleader in Philadelphia. Wilder's first performances took place on the radio program, "Parisian Tailor's Colored Kiddies of the Air." He and the other young musicians were backed up by such illustrious bands as Duke Ellington's and Louis Armstrong's that were also then playing at the Lincoln Theater. Wilder studied at the Mastbaum School of Music in Philadelphia, but turned to jazz when he felt that there was little future for an African American classical musician. At age 19, Wilder joined his first touring big band, Les Hite's band. [Larkin, Colin. "The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music", Guinness, page 4477, (1995) - ISBN 1561591769]

Wilder was one of the first thousand African Americans to serve in the Marines during World War II. He worked first in Special Weapons and eventually became Assistant Bandmaster at the headquarters' band. Following the war during the 1940 and early 1950s, he played in the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford, Herbie Fields, Sam Donahue, Lucky Millinder, Noble Sissle, Dizzy Gillespie, and finally with the Count Basie Orchestra. From 1957 to 1974, Wilder did studio work for ABC-TV, New York, and in the pit orchestras for Broadway musicals, while building his reputation as a soloist with his albums for Savoy (1956) and Columbia (1959). His "Jazz from Peter Gunn" (1959), features ten song from Henry Mancini ("Peter Gunn") television score in melodic and swinging fashion with a quartet. He was also a regular sideman with such musicians as NEA Jazz Masters Hank Jones, Gil Evans, and Benny Goodman. He became a favorite with vocalists and played for Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Harry Belafonte, Eileen Farrell, Tony Bennett, and many others. [ [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20604 Joe Wilder: A True Living Legend] ] Wilder returned to school in the 1960s, earning a bachelor's degree at the Manhattan School of Music where he was also principal trumpet with the school's symphony orchestra under conductor Jonel Perlea. At that time, he performed on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz and Pierre Boulez. Wilder played lead for the Symphony Of The New World from 1965 to 1971.

He appeared on The Cosby Show 1986, episode "Play It Again, Russell", is a reference to "Play it again, Sam", a quote from Casablanca (1942). [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0547053/ "The Cosby Show": Play It Again, Russell (1986)] ] played the trumpet in the Malcolm X Orchestra in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992). [ [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/fullcredits#cast Malcolm X (1992)] ] Since 1991 he returned as a leader and recorded three albums for Evening Star.

elected discography

References